When TradFi Launches Prediction Markets, Exchange Design Changes
Robinhood rolled out its YES/NO event contracts, and it wasn’t a quirky new trading format experiment. Traders aren’t just seeking exposure to prices, but also to outcomes.
“Will the Fed cut rates?”
“Will a Bitcoin ETF get approved?”
“Will a protocol ship its upgrade on time?”
These aren’t random casino questions but decision markets. And they’re far more intuitive, engaging, and scalable than yet another spot or perpetual pair.
For founders building cryptocurrency exchange software in 2026, this matters because price-based trading markets are getting saturated. Fees are compressing, UI differences barely make a difference, and liquidity is expensive to bootstrap.
Event-based trading opens a new frontier for cryptocurrency exchange development, including new markets, users, and revenue streams. Major market trading platforms already sensed the air and have already launched their event contracts trading platforms.
Major Crypto Trading Platforms & Their Prediction Market Strategies
| Platform | Status | The Engine (Provider) | Key Details & Differentiator |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coinbase | Live (Jan 2026) | Kalshi (Partnership) | Integrated Kalshi markets directly into the main app. Users trade election/econ events alongside their spot crypto portfolio. |
| Webull | Live | Kalshi (Partnership) | Focuses on “Hourlies” (e.g., Will S&P 500 be up at 2 PM?) and Sports. Targets active retail traders with short-term outcomes. |
| Crypto.com | Live (B2B) | CDNA (Own Exchange) | Instead of just a retail app, they use their CFTC-regulated exchange (CDNA) to power other platforms. Currently powering Truth Social’s “Truth Predict” and High Roller casino. |
| Gemini | Live (Dec 2025) | Gemini Titan (Own Exchange) | Built their own CFTC-licensed exchange (Gemini Titan). They frame predictions as a serious asset class (“Gemini Predictions”), not a game. |
| Kraken | Planned (2026) | Small Exchange (Acquisition) | Acquired Small Exchange (a regulated futures exchange) to build a native event contract product from scratch, aiming for lower fees than the Kalshi partners. |
| ForecastEx | Live | Interactive Brokers (Subsidiary) | A dedicated CFTC exchange for “Forecast Contracts.” Key Feature: They pay interest on the collateral you lock up in positions, attracting institutional hedging flow. |
| Jupiter | Live (Feb 2026) | Polymarket (Integration) | Became the first Solana UI to natively integrate Polymarket. Allows Solana users to trade Polymarket events without bridging to Polygon. |
| Hyperliquid | Live (HIP-4) | Native L1 (Outcome Trading) | Launched native “Outcome Trading” on their high-speed L1. Uses their massive perpetual liquidity to seed prediction markets, solving the “chicken and egg” liquidity problem. |
What Is YES/NO Event-Based Trading?
Event-based trading lets users trade outcomes rather than assets. Each market is framed as a simple YES/NO question tied to real-world or crypto-native events. Traders take positions based on conviction; the truth unfolds when the event concludes, and settlement is immediate.
Unlike traditional crypto exchange software, there’s no long-term holding, no complex leverage math, and no dependence on continuous price movement. The trade is binary, time-bound, and information-driven.
They are also called binary markets because they strip away all complexity and leave traders with only two possibilities. Unlike a stock or digital asset price, which can go up, down, or stay the same, a binary event contract has no middle ground. The event either happens (YES) or it doesn’t (NO).
How Event Contracts Trading Differs From Spot, Perpetual, and Prediction Markets?
| Dimension | Spot Trading | Perpetuals & Futures | Prediction Markets | Event-Based Trading |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What users trade | Asset price | Leveraged price exposure | Forecasts | Event outcomes (YES/NO) |
| Complexity | Low | High (funding, liquidation) | Medium | Low |
| Time horizon | Open-ended | Continuous | Often long | Short, predefined |
| Risk profile | Capital-intensive | Liquidation risk | Thin liquidity | Capped, transparent |
| User intent | Hold or speculate | High-frequency speculation | Forecast accuracy | Decision-driven trading |
| Exchange advantage | Commoditized | Liquidity wars | Niche usage | High engagement, new markets |
For those planning retail-focused crypto exchange development, integrating these event tap trading games improves engagement and diversifies revenues, without adding leverage risk or launching tokens.
How Event-Driven Trading Fits Crypto Exchange Development?
Cryptocurrency exchange software is structurally built for event contracts trading. On-chain or hybrid trading software enables near-instantaneous settlement, global participation, and round-the-clock access, exactly what short-duration, outcome-based markets require. Like the spot or perpetual crypto markets, traders react to news and volatility in real time. Event-based trading only gives that behavior a cleaner, more explicit trading surface.
However, this model shifts the focus away from endless price charts toward outcome-driven markets with clear questions and resolution. Instead of asking whether BTC ticks up or down, cryptocurrency exchange software can list events such as ETF approvals, network upgrades, governance votes, or regulatory decisions. This way, YES/NO event trading merges into the existing exchanges and brings higher engagement, faster trader cycles, and diversified revenue.
Core Modules Required to Support Binary Event Contracts Trading At Scale
If you’re planning to integrate event contracts trading into cryptocurrency exchange software development, you must ensure to build and implement the following modules:
1. Event Lifecycle Engine
The backbone of the event contracts trading system.
- Event creation (question framing, expiry, resolution source)
- Status transitions: Market opens → the stakes on YES/NO are locked → event resolves → markets settle
- The event-trading system enforces non-negotiable technical locks once an event reaches its cutoff time.
Without deterministic lifecycle rules, outcome markets lose trust fast.
2. YES/NO Market & Pricing Logic
Each event spawns two tradable positions – YES and NO.
- People buy YES if they think it’ll happen.
- People buy NO if they think it won’t.
- The price moves based on how many people believe each side. If more people bet YES, it gets expensive, and if confidence drops, YES gets cheaper.
There’s no Bitcoin price here like in crypto exchange software. The price simply reflects belief and probability, not charts and candles.
3. Resolution & Oracle Layer
This layer is responsible for feeding the event contracts trading system with information about whether the event happened or not.
- The system checks a trusted source, which may be an official announcement, blockchain data, or a regulator notice.
- If needed, it checks more than one source.
- Only in rare cases do humans step in, and that action is recorded publicly.
If outcomes are disputed or distorted, users leave the cryptocurrency exchange software featuring event contracts trading instantly. This layer ensures the result is boring, obvious, and defensible.
4. Risk & Exposure Controls
These mechanisms impose limits that stop people or whales from breaking the market. The limits ensure the following:
- One user can’t bet unlimited money on one event.
- One event can’t grow so big that it threatens the platform.
- Some events are hidden or blocked in certain countries.
Unlike crypto spot and perpetual markets, event markets don’t require leverage but guardrails. They keep the platform defensible and prevent whale distortion.
5. Settlement and Payout Engine
This exchange software development module is responsible for closing the market and paying winners. This is what happens at the settlement stage:
- Event ends.
- Outcome is confirmed.
- Winners get credited automatically.
- Losers are done.
No positions are ongoing after the event ends. There’s no waiting and no funding fees. The settlement in these event-based tap trading models is fast, clean, and without any drag or mess.
6. Admin and Compliance Layer
For centralized and hybrid settings, this dashboard lets the admin control:
- Which events go live?
- Audit trails for resolution decisions.
- Region-based market visibility
For regulated prediction markets and event contracts trading platforms, this control panel is the regulators’ first choice.
How Founders Can Build event contracts trading Platform Using White Label Crypto Exchange Software?
As stated above, event-trading infrastructure fits perfectly within the crypto exchange software, as the trading logic remains the same. By opting white label crypto exchange software that supports derivatives trading, exchanges can build outcome-driven trading modules. Here’s the blueprint:
1. Start With an Event-Native Core
- Businesses can choose white label crypto exchange software that supports event lifecycles, not just asset pairs.
- Events must have:
- fixed start and end times
- immutable rules once live
- deterministic settlement logic
If the platform treats events like “just another trading pair,” walk away.
2. Define Events as Financial Contracts (Just like Robinhood)
- Each event must be:
- binary (YES / NO)
- objectively verifiable
- time-bounded
- Resolution sources must be locked before trading opens.
3. Plug Event Markets Into the Existing Matching Engine
- Reuse your order-matching or liquidity logic
- Replace price feeds with probability-driven pricing
- Ensure markets auto-freeze at expiry
At this stage, you leverage an existing white label crypto exchange infrastructure to build outcome markets that feel native and not bolted on.
4. Use a Controlled Oracle, Resolution, and Risk Limiting Layer
As stated above, these layers ensure the following:
- Pre-approved data sources only
- Multi-source validation, where possible
- Public audit trails for every resolution
- Cap exposure per user per event
- Max open interest per market
- Region-specific event visibility
5. Automate Settlement and Setup Admin and Compliance Layer
As said above, the settlement layer ensures fast and efficient settlement of the events and automates payouts. The administration and compliance layer, on the other hand, ensures that event workflows are supervised, immutable, and can be stopped anytime during an emergency.
How to Ensure that Event Contracts Trading Doesn’t Seem Like Gambling?
If you’re building event-based trading into your cryptocurrency exchange software development, this question will come up from partners, regulators, and even internal teams. The answer depends on how you design the product.
Robinhood didn’t present YES/NO events as entertainment or betting. It framed them as financial contracts linked to verifiable outcomes. Similarly, these are the factors that differentiate gambling platforms, unregulated prediction markets, and event-based trading.
| Aspect | Gambling Platforms | Unregulated Prediction Markets | Event-Based Trading |
|---|---|---|---|
| What users act on | Chance | Opinions | Known events |
| Outcome logic | Random / house-defined | Often subjective | Predefined & verifiable |
| Risk exposure | Open-ended | Unclear | Capped upfront |
| Settlement | House-controlled | Inconsistent | Rule-based & automatic |
| Product intent | Entertainment | Forecasting | Trading decisions |
If outcomes are random or house-controlled, regulators call it gambling. If outcomes are unclear or poorly governed, it lands in grey territory.
Event contracts trading avoids both if structured correctly.
Founders seeking regulatory defensability while building event trading into cryptocurrency exchange software development must ensure the following:
- Events are tied to objective, externally verifiable facts.
- Resolution rules are defined before trading starts.
- No post-expiry changes happen ever.
- Clear limits on exposure and participation are imposed.
- Full audit trails are maintained for event approval and settlement
Monetization Models Founders Can Actually Scale
- Per-event trading fees: This is usually a small and flat fee per YES/NO trade. It ensures predictable revenue without relying on leveraged volume.
- Event creation fees: The event trading enabling crypto exchange software charges projects, institutions, and DAOs for launching custom or premium events
- Liquidity incentives: The event contracts trading platform rewards early market makers on high-value events to ensure tight spreads and faster price discovery.
- Institutional & B2B event markets: The cryptocurrency exchange software featuring YES/NI event contracts may also charge funds, DAOs, enterprises, or research firms for private or permissioned events.
- Revenue diversification advantage: Earnings come from several events and engagements, not just raw trading volume, reducing dependence on fee wars.
Expand tradeable markets with YES/NO binary event trading
Closing: Build Before the Giants Dominate
Event contracts trading platforms aren’t for pure meme exchanges or platforms without risk or compliance maturity, but if you’re any of the following, you must start building event contracts trading infrastructure:
- Exchange operators seeking differentiation
- Web3 startups fighting fee compression
- Fintechs expanding into crypto trading
Many market giants have launched event-based trading as a core-primitive and not a side feature. Even if you’re leveraging white label crypto exchange software to build your event contracts trading platform, you must not treat it as a side feature. This is why Gemini, Kraken, Hyperliquid, and ForecastEx launched separate platforms for outcome-driven trading. This way, event-based exchanges look more like:
- Information markets
- Decision markets
- Outcome-based financial layers
Robinhood and other major event contracts trading platforms just validated a direction, and the rest of the founders can blaze the trail with product differentiation. They can also target new trader segments or create stronger engagement loops by partnering with an exchange software development company that specializes in digital asset trading infrastructures as well as prediction markets.
Antier delivers enterprise-grade white label crypto exchange software with native event-contract trading infrastructure, engineered for compliant, outcome-driven markets at scale.
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