binary option2026-10-16 11:22:41U.S. market to list binary options tied to Coinbase, Robinhood and Marathon sharesTraders in the United States will soon be able to trade binary options tied to the shares of Coinbase, Robinhood and Marathon. The contracts will let market participants bet on whether the stocks reach preset target levels. The three companies involved are the crypto exchange Coinbase, fintech firm Robinhood and Bitcoin miner Marathon. Their stock tickers are COIN, HOOD and MARA, respectively. The update was reported by CoinDesk and republished in a news brief by Odaily.210
SEC2026-10-16 11:20:47SEC approves Cboe rule change for binary options tied to public-company KPIsThe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved a Cboe Global Markets rule change that would allow binary options linked to key performance indicators at 23 publicly listed U.S. companies, according to CoinDesk. SEC Chair Paul Atkins said in a statement issued on Oct. 13 that the approval covers contracts tied to metrics including Coinbase’s trading volume, Robinhood’s customer numbers and revenue, and MARA Holdings’ Bitcoin production. The contracts will be cash-settled and structured as European-style options, meaning they can be exercised only at expiration. Settlement data will be drawn from filings submitted to the SEC rather than investor presentation materials or earnings slide decks. Cboe plans to launch the contracts this month. Robinhood is expected to be the first brokerage to offer the product to retail investors. Trading, however, cannot begin until clearinghouse Cboe Clear U.S. receives temporary registration. A separate related application is also still under review.180
SEC2026-10-15 08:34:31SEC approves exchange rule change for binary options tied to certain issuer KPIsThe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved a proposed rule change from an exchange to list binary options linked to certain key performance indicators, or KPIs, reported by some stock issuers, according to a statement released Oct. 13 by SEC Chair Paul S. Atkins. The order allows those products to trade on a securities exchange as cash-settled, European-style, standardized options and treats them as National Market System, or NMS, securities protected under federal securities laws. The statement said the listing and trading framework will generally mirror that used for existing standardized non-binary options. The contracts will be subject to exchange rules covering customer accounts, margin, trading halts, auction mechanisms, market maker appointments and quoting duties, order types, time-in-force, and order instructions. The approval is narrowly defined. It applies only to the specified binary option contracts when traded on securities exchanges that comply with securities laws and list standardized securities options. It does not extend to similar products based on the same KPIs if those products use a different structure. The SEC also said the order neither addresses nor rules out the jurisdiction of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission over contracts tied to the same KPIs if they are structured to fall within the CFTC’s authority.130
SEC2026-10-14 21:33:07SEC clears Cboe to list binary options tied to Coinbase, Robinhood and MARA KPIsThe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the Chicago Board Options Exchange, or Cboe, to list binary options linked to key performance indicators at publicly traded companies, with Coinbase, Robinhood and Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) included in the first batch. These contracts let traders make yes-or-no directional bets on company-specific metrics rather than only on share prices or the price of Bitcoin. The underlying data points cited in the approval include Coinbase trading volume, Marathon’s Bitcoin production, and Robinhood’s customer and revenue figures. Robinhood is expected to become the first brokerage firm to offer the products to retail clients. Former SEC Commissioner Paul S. Atkins said the move reflects a “new spirit of coordination, innovation and investor choice.” Eleanor Terrett said on X that, for the crypto sector, the structure opens another way to trade the performance of crypto-linked companies beyond taking a direct view on Bitcoin’s price. The SEC approved this particular securities options structure while leaving room for other contract designs that could fall under the jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.110
Lighter2026-09-21 02:59:19Lighter adds prediction market support in lighter-prover update touching 88 filesLighter’s development team has pushed a new update to the lighter-prover repository, adding "Binary options support," according to the project’s GitHub page. The commit touched 88 files in total, with 6,329 lines added and 1,214 lines removed. The changes span several parts of the codebase, including trade processing, market data, account positions, settlement results, and zero-knowledge proof circuits. The update points to expanded functionality inside the repository and shows that the team is making changes across both trading logic and proving-related components. No additional rollout timeline or product release details were disclosed in the source material.440
Lighter2026-09-21 01:21:08Lighter prover repository shows commit for binary options supportA recent commit in Lighter’s prover codebase points to possible binary options functionality, according to an X post published by user @UngusTrade on Sept. 21. The commit, titled "Binary options support," describes a zero-knowledge circuit intended to support Lighter. Code referenced in the post shows a standard binary-outcome contract design in which each market has a settlement cap, with prediction markets typically set at 100. Shares trade between 0 and that cap, then settle at either 0 or the cap. The implementation is described as fully collateralized in USDC, with no leverage and no liquidation. The circuit also appears to support continuous markets, allowing settlement at any value within a range rather than only yes-or-no outcomes. That would make contracts based on measured values possible. The post also said Lighter may let whitelisted operators create, manage, and settle markets under a deployment model similar to HIP-3. Lighter had not publicly commented on the matter at the time of publication.570
FCA2026-09-08 09:47:05FCA Discussed Possible Easing of Its 2019 Retail Ban on Financial Prediction MarketsBritain’s Financial Conduct Authority has held discussions with trading platforms about possibly softening the 2019 ban that prevents retail users from accessing financial prediction markets, according to a Friday report from The Times. No rule has been changed, and the regulator’s published position still supports the prohibition. Under the current framework, contracts tied to financial events and some climate-related events are treated as binary options, which firms operating in or from the UK have been barred from selling, marketing, or distributing to retail consumers since April 2, 2019. At the time, the FCA said the measure could save retail consumers up to £17 million a year. Industry participants have argued that millions of people in Britain already access offshore platforms through virtual private networks, leaving them outside UK consumer protections. FCA documents also show the issue remains under review, including a discussion paper that asks whether speculative products should be regulated by their risk-and-return profile rather than by product labels. Even if the FCA changes course, sports and political contracts would still sit under the Gambling Commission, meaning a platform seeking to offer the full range of UK prediction markets would need approvals from both regulators.870
UK2026-09-07 20:40:17UK watchdog said to be considering whether to ease retail ban on prediction marketsThe UK’s Financial Conduct Authority is reportedly in talks with prediction market companies as it reviews whether to soften a ban that has applied to retail investors since 2019. According to a Friday report from The Times, platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi are under discussion because their event contracts are treated as binary options under FCA rules. That 2019 restriction barred firms from selling, marketing or distributing binary options to retail consumers in the UK. At the time, then-FCA executive Christopher Woolard said binary options were "gambling products dressed up as financial instruments." The report also said many UK retail users have been turning to VPNs to access prediction market platforms and place trades on Kalshi and Polymarket, both of which operate in the United States. Separately, Bernstein Research said in April that total prediction market trading volume could reach about $240 billion in 2026 and $1 trillion by 2030. Even if the FCA lifts the ban, the platforms could still face legal and regulatory pressure similar to what they are dealing with in the US, where state gaming authorities have challenged sports-event contracts in court. Last week, New Jersey officials asked the Supreme Court to hear the state’s case against Kalshi.780
