🎯 Super Bowl, Super Bets, Super Fight: Crypto.com Launches “OG” Prediction Markets as Regulators Circle

Just days before the Super Bowl — the biggest betting weekend in America — Crypto.com has made its boldest wager yet.

On Tuesday, the crypto exchange unveiled OG, a standalone prediction markets platform designed to let users trade on everything from sports outcomes to politics, pop culture, and financial events. The launch comes at a moment of explosive growth for prediction markets — and escalating legal pressure from U.S. state regulators who argue the entire sector is skirting gambling laws.

The timing is no accident. Nor is the controversy.

Crypto.com says its prediction markets business has gone from niche experiment to breakout hit.

“We’ve experienced 40x weekly growth in our prediction market business over the last six months,” said Crypto.com Co-Founder and CEO Kris Marszalek. “This type of growth warrants a concerted effort with a standalone platform.”

That effort is OG — short for “Original Gangster,” but also a not-so-subtle signal that Crypto.com believes it got there first.

The platform will operate through Crypto.com | Derivatives North America (CDNA), offering CFTC-regulated sports event contracts alongside markets tied to finance, politics, culture, and entertainment.

To juice early adoption, Crypto.com is dangling a major incentive:
👉 The first one million users can earn up to $500 in rewards for signing up.

Crypto.com is leaning hard into its regulatory positioning.

Nick Lundgren, who was named CEO of OG while retaining his role as Crypto.com’s Chief Legal Officer, emphasized that the company was the first to offer federally licensed sports prediction contracts in the U.S.

“Launching OG is very fitting,” Lundgren said. “We have tremendous momentum and expertise to establish OG as a market leader for consumers in this deca-billion-dollar industry.”

That “federal license” distinction is critical — and it’s the core of Crypto.com’s legal argument as states push back.

OG isn’t just another prediction platform.

Crypto.com plans to introduce margin trading through CDNA’s futures commission merchant license — a move that would make OG the first prediction markets platform to offer leveraged trading on event contracts.

The company is also rolling out a VIP program powered by Crypto.com’s high-profile partnerships, including:

The strategy is clear: blend trading, entertainment, and brand prestige into a single ecosystem — and scale fast.

Crypto.com’s expansion is unfolding against a legal backdrop that’s getting uglier by the week.

State gaming regulators across the U.S. are aggressively targeting prediction markets, arguing that event contracts are sports betting in disguise — and therefore illegal without state licenses.

Cease-and-desist orders have already been issued in Connecticut, Tennessee, Michigan, and Illinois, naming platforms including:

Nevada has gone even further. The state’s Gaming Control Board filed a civil enforcement action against Coinbase Financial Markets, while a state court issued a temporary restraining order against Polymarket. Kalshi has been under similar pressure since early last year.

The platforms have largely refused to back down, insisting that federal regulators — not states — have exclusive jurisdiction over CFTC-regulated event contracts.

Over the weekend, New York Attorney General Letitia James escalated the rhetoric, issuing a consumer alert warning residents about the risks of prediction markets.

She described the platforms as offering “bets masquerading as event contracts,” arguing they lack proper consumer protections and oversight from the New York Gaming Commission.

Crypto.com, for its part, is still fighting. The company is currently appealing a Nevada federal court’s denial of its request to block state enforcement actions against its sports contracts.

Crypto.com’s launch of OG is more than a product rollout — it’s a line drawn in the sand.

On one side: crypto-native platforms arguing that federally regulated prediction markets are the future of trading, price discovery, and entertainment.
On the other: state regulators determined to defend their control over sports wagering.

With the Super Bowl approaching, billions in potential volume at stake, and courts yet to deliver a definitive answer, OG enters the arena at a pivotal moment.

Whether it becomes the category leader — or the centerpiece of the industry’s biggest legal showdown — may depend less on market demand and more on who ultimately controls the rules of the game.