Crypto.com exchange sues Missouri over sports event contracts

North American Derivatives Exchange, the exchange behind Crypto.com’s prediction-market platform, sued Missouri officials in federal court on Oct. 16 to stop the state applying its sports-wagering laws to its sports event contracts.

The case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, asks for a declaration that federal commodities law controls the contracts and for a permanent injunction against state enforcement. NADEX argues that the Commodity Exchange Act gives the Commodity Futures Trading Commission exclusive jurisdiction and pre-empts Missouri gambling law.

The exchange also contends that the state’s licensing route is unavailable to it because Missouri’s two direct mobile sports-betting licences have already been awarded. Its complaint says Attorney General Catherine Hanaway’s cease-and-desist letter was incorrectly addressed to Foris DAX, Inc., rather than NADEX.

Missouri had sent cease-and-desist letters on Sept. 16 and 17 to six operators, including Crypto.com, directing them within 30 days either to stop offering sports event contracts to Missouri residents or obtain a Gaming Commission licence and pay the state’s 10% wagering tax. The attorney general’s office considers facilitating such contracts to be unlicensed sports wagering.

Hanaway has argued that companies cannot “repackage sports bets” as event contracts to evade Missouri law. Her office also said Crypto.com permitted users as young as 18 to trade, while the state’s sports-betting age is 21. Missouri voters approved the state’s regulated sports-betting framework in 2024, and the market opened on Dec. 1, 2025.

Novig filed a parallel lawsuit against Missouri officials on the same day, as we reported Oct. 16. Kalshi, Polymarket, Robinhood and Underdog had not filed comparable cases in either Missouri federal district as of Oct. 18, though the attorney general’s office described discussions with Kalshi as ongoing.

The suit arrives amid conflicting federal rulings over whether sports event contracts fall under federal derivatives regulation or remain subject to state gambling laws. The Third Circuit upheld an injunction against New Jersey regulators in April, while the Ninth Circuit in August and the Sixth Circuit in September reached conclusions unfavorable to Kalshi. The Sixth Circuit also held that, even if the contracts were swaps, the Commodity Exchange Act did not pre-empt Ohio and Tennessee gambling laws.

On Oct. 9, the CFTC proposed including event contracts involving sports, politics, culture and weather in the Commodity Exchange Act’s definition of a swap, while excluding qualifying casino-style gambling products. The proposal does not itself settle whether sports event contracts displace state gambling regulation.