Blockchain.com asks the CFTC for exchange and broker licenses ahead of a $500 million IPO

Bloomberg's reported valuation range of $4 billion to $6 billion ^[8] puts the top 50% above the bottom. That is a $2 billion spread ^[18], four times the roughly $500 million the company plans to raise ^[10][19]. At $4 billion the raise equals 12.5% of the valuation. At $6 billion it is about 8.3% ^[17]. Where the book lands inside that band depends partly on what buyers will pay for a US derivatives business with no customers yet, because none of the products is live in the US and the company has not announced a launch timeline ^[6].

Peter Smith, the chief executive and co-founder, is selling one app. "Users should be able to manage their digital assets, trade derivatives, and take positions on real-world events easily, without jumping between different apps," he said in a statement, according to CNBC ^[3]. "Our DCM and FCM applications build toward that future in the U.S. through the appropriate regulatory frameworks," he said ^[4].

The route he picked keeps more in-house than Coinbase's. Coinbase reaches event contracts through Kalshi, while Crypto.com and Gemini Space Station built their own platforms, according to CNBC ^[12]. Blockchain.com wants to be both the exchange and the broker ^[1]. The broker license covers handling customer orders and the funds tied to them ^[2], work the company now avoids abroad by routing users to Polymarket and Hyperliquid ^[5].

If both licenses clear before the listing later this year ^[9], the prospectus can describe a US product with a start date. Still pending at pricing, they leave investors valuing an application, and Crypto Briefing wrote that delay or rejection would leave the US plan as a promise ^[16]. A grant has limits of its own. The CFTC has sued nine states since April, arguing the Commodity Exchange Act gives it sole authority over designated contract markets and overrides state gambling laws ^[14]. Its June proposal also sends contracts in flagged categories such as gaming to case-by-case review, with no category banned outright ^[13].

The agency's pace this year works out to one new DCM approval for every two applicants ^[20], though some of the six approved may have applied before 2026.

I think the US derivatives line belongs in the price at close to zero until the CFTC acts on both applications. That puts the whole $4 billion to $6 billion range on the business Blockchain.com runs now. The counter-case is the regulator's own conduct: an agency approving new exchanges and suing states on their behalf ^[14] has made a license worth more than it was a year ago. The public registration statement would test the view. Crypto Briefing flagged whether it shows how much these products contribute to the business ^[15]. If the partner-run products abroad already bring in a large share of revenue, buyers have a measured base for the US plan, and a price near zero is too low.