Crypto.com Review 2026

Nadex, long known as the leading CFTC‑regulated venue for retail binary options and event contracts in the US, was folded into Crypto.com in December 2025, following its earlier acquisition in 2022, with the standalone Nadex platform retired and trading shifted to the Crypto.com app via Crypto.com Deriv North America (CDNA).

CDNA now serves as the CFTC‑regulated US hub for binary options and event contracts, blending classic exchange rules with Crypto.com’s sleek trading platform to create a seamless retail derivatives experience.

In practice, it pushes capped‑risk binaries and event markets out of a niche exchange and into a mainstream crypto app, bringing more scale and innovation but also changing how Crypto.com traders in the US access and experience these contracts.

This review dives into Crypto.com’s prediction contracts, event trades, and strike options which share similarities to binary-style contracts.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Oversight through CDNA means legal protection and fewer shady-broker risks – settlements hit fast without funds disappearing and the withdrawal issues we see at some offshore binary firms.
• Winnings are credited quickly after event results are confirmed, typically within 24 hours. Internal transfers process instantly, external wallet withdrawals complete within hours, and bank transfers for fiat typically clear in one to two business days.
• Prediction trading fees are $0.02 per $1 contract to open (and $0.02 to close early; winners pay no settlement fees for $1 contracts), while $10 contracts carry $0.10 exchange + $0.10 tech per contract to open/close (with the tech fee waived when a winning position settles).
• Strike Options also use fixed per-contract fees (e.g., Crypto Strike: $0.15 exchange + $0.14 tech; FX Strike: $0.10 exchange + $0.10 tech, with the tech fee waived if it settles in the money), so you can estimate your worst-case cost before placing the order.
• After taking over from Nadex, Crypto.com is one of a small number of CFTC-regulated providers of binary-like products with event-based contracts and strike options, making it a stand-out choice for traders in supported US states seeking a secure environment.

Cons

• Some states are pushing back, treating prediction markets on sports-based event contracts especially like unlicensed gambling rather than federally regulated derivatives. Crypto.com has already had to pull products in multiple US states because of this.
• While expanding predictions to sports, politics, etc., it still doesn’t match the breadth of some competitors, so options for speculation are more constrained.
• It offers a different set of binary-style products than the Nadex, so will require an adjustment period for those familiar with traditional US exchange-regulated binary contracts.
• Because Crypto.com Prediction is tied into the broader Crypto.com ecosystem, you are still subject to standard crypto risks (e.g., hacks, network problems), which can affect funds you might otherwise use for event contracts.

Company Details

Crypto.com started in 2016 as Monaco, a crypto card project. It rebranded after buying the domain in 2018 and pushed into exchanges, cards, and DeFi.

Growth came fast with heavy marketing. But the 2022 crash brought heat – layoffs, slashed token value, a security breach with full reimbursements, and a SEC action that resolved with no action against the company.

Regulation is more solid now: CFTC approvals for US derivatives via its CDNA arm (DCM 34536 license) – a tier one agency in our regulator directory. It’s also registered with other regulators, including the FCA (UK), ASIC (Australia), and others worldwide.

For US traders, it took over Nadex’s binary-like event contract specifications – CFTC-regulated ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ bets starting at $1, with clear risk caps.​

For prediction market beginners, it’s okay if you’re in the US in supported states and more into sports and general financial markets.

It’s also worth noting that Crypto.com has withdrawn sports event contracts from multiple US states after state regulators hit the broker with enforcement actions, cease-and-desist orders, investigations, and court fights over prediction markets on sports outcomes.​

Crypto.com’s Prediction Markets vs Binary Options

Crypto.com’s prediction markets and binary options look similar at first – both are yes/no bets with fixed payouts. But binaries focus on price moves in markets like forex, stocks, or indices, hitting a level by expiry. You predict whether something will go up or down, like BTC/USD above $90,000 in an hour.

Prediction markets shift more to real-world events. Think ‘Will Trump win 2028?’ or ‘US recession by Q2?’ Contracts trade like shares. Market price shows crowd probability – say 0.65 means 65% chance. Crypto.com’s prediction markets are only available in the US.

For binary traders eyeing predictions, it’s a smoother jump into CFTC-regulated spots like Crypto.com’s offerings. Less broker tricks, more liquidity from real bets. The downside is that there are fewer financial markets (less forex or commodities), and fewer short-term positions.

Crypto.com’s Strike Options vs Binary Options

Crypto.com’s strike options are the closest thing in its US product suite to the classic all-or-nothing binary option. You’re making a simple Yes/No call on whether an underlying market will be above (or below) a chosen strike price at a set expiry time.

If you’re right, you receive a fixed settlement value per contract; if you’re wrong, the contract settles to $0. This means your loss is capped at what you paid to enter the position, plus any trading fees.

If you’ve traded binaries with a fixed return (e.g., “BTC above X at 20:00 – win $Y or lose stake”), strike options will feel familiar:

• Fixed outcome at expiry: settle in-the-money with a fixed settlement value; out-of-the-money means $0.
• Upfront risk cap: there’s no margin call with your maximum loss what you put in.
• High/Low direction: buy “Yes” if you think price will end above the strike; choose “No” (short) if you think it will end below.
• Short durations: contracts can be very short-term (including minutes), which mirrors the fast binary trading dynamic we see on other platforms.

Importantly, there are still practical differences vs typical broker binaries, especially over-the-counter (OTC) products we’ve tested:

• Like with Nadex before it, you pay a contract price (like a premium), you don’t get a preset payout %. The price you pay is effectively the market’s view of the chance of finishing ITM (plus fees). Cheaper contracts usually mean less likely, and pricey contracts usually mean more likely.
• You can often exit early by closing the position before expiry, taking profit or cutting loss based on the live price – something many offshore binary platforms don’t allow, though some firms have introduced such a feature.
• Fees matter more and are explicit. Strike options have per-contract fees that can differ by product type, and settlement/early-close rules can change what you ultimately net.

Account Types

Setting up a Crypto.com account feels more like opening a small futures account than a typical binary options setup we’ve seen on many platforms.

You start by creating a standard Crypto.com app account, verifying your email and phone, then completing full KYC with ID scans, proof of address, and biometric checks. It’s slow on clock time as there are many steps, and you’ll notice constant re-verification when logging back in.

Once the primary account is live, you still need to enable the USD account and then get approved for the derivatives/prediction product under Crypto.com Derivatives North America. That’s another terms-and-conditions click-through and a short wait for approval. Only then can you hit the ‘Predict’ tab, pick an event, choose Yes/No, set contract size, and fund in USD or via crypto conversion.​

Compared with most offshore binary options brokers, the process is longer but you get a more regulated, slower pipeline that suits traders willing to trade a few extra minutes of setup for tighter compliance and more explicit product rules.

Trading Hours

Crypto.com’s prediction markets don’t run like 24/7 crypto charts. Contracts open when an event is listed and trade up until the cut-off for that event, then settle a few hours after the result is confirmed. So you’re trading around calendars and news cycles, not constant ticks on EUR/USD.​

There is also a fixed weekly downtime. Every Saturday, roughly 04:00–05:00 ET, the platform goes into scheduled maintenance, and you can’t open or close prediction positions during that window, even though your existing contracts stay open in the background. That’s a small thing, but it matters if you’re used to squeezing in weekend binary trades.​

Compared to classic binary options, the rhythm is slower and more event-driven. You’re not trading 5‑minute expiries all day – you’re picking your spots around key reports, games, or political dates. That can be a plus if you want fewer forced trades and more time to think, but it also means less flexibility if you’re used to firing off binaries at any hour the market is open.

If you want more opportunities on traditional financial markets at various hours, stick with Crypto.com’s strike options, with crypto available nearly 24/7 outside of a weekly maintenance window, and forex strike options following general forex hours with daily and weekend breaks.

Markets

Crypto.com’s prediction markets cover Politics, Economics, Finance, Sports, and Culture. You get Yes/No contracts on stuff like election winners, Fed rate calls, NFL game spreads, player stats, inflation prints, or recession odds.​

From our hands-on time, we see that sports lean heavily on big leagues – think Packers-Super Bowl odds or Premier League match winners.

Politics hits elections and polls, and economics sticks to macro data like jobs reports. There are no crypto price binaries in its political/economic/cultural contracts, though there are opportunities on digital currencies in its strike options and other derivatives.

At the time of our last tests, the financials page showed tight bets on index closes – like ‘Gold Index above $4,447.80 today at 13:00 ET?’ with crowd odds at 99%.

Economics hits macro releases: ‘US Recession by End of 2026?’ Politics covers elections, bill passes, and Fed rate hikes at the FOMC, and Culture’s lighter with Oscar winners – the chance of the Best Picture Winner award going to ‘One Battle After Another’ was 80%.

The library of contracts is relatively restrictive at Crypto.com. For instance, Politics might list just five active agreements at a time. Other prediction markets platforms, meanwhile, offers 50+ politics contracts alone in some weeks, along with hundreds of other choices including Crypto, Climate and Science.

That said, its strike options are more readily available on traditional financial markets like indices, currencies and global commodities, like we see on most binary platforms.

Payouts

Placing a prediction trade on Crypto.com is straightforward. Open the Predict tab, scroll to an event – say, ‘Will Nvidia be the largest company at the end of June’ – and pick Yes or No. Then set your contract quantity (minimum one at around a cent each), then tap ‘Place order’ at the current market price.

You pull funds straight from your USD wallet, or swap crypto in seconds – no leverage involved, so it’s all cash exposure.​

Everything settles after the event resolves. If you’re right, each $1 notional contract pays out a whole dollar, minus whatever you paid to enter.

For example, buy 100 Yes contracts at 65 cents apiece – giving you a $65 outlay. If it settles Yes, you receive $100, for $35 gross profit. On $1 contracts you also pay a $0.02 exchange fee per contract to open (so $2 total here). If you hold to settlement, ITM settlement fees are waived for $1 contracts, so the net would be about $33 after the opening fee (and you’d only pay another $0.02 per contract if you close early). Lose, and it settles to $0.

The real edge comes from selling early: dump your position anytime before the cutoff at live bid prices to grab profits or bail on a bad read.​ This differs from most offshore binary platforms that generally don’t allow you to exit positions before the expiry, with a few exceptions on platforms with an ‘Early Close’ feature.

After extensively testing the platform, it feels way less gimmicky than binary brokers with their preset 90% payout buttons. Still, binaries let you grind quick forex ticks every few minutes, while Crypto.com ties you to event timelines, often days out, with patchier liquidity. Fees can nick small trades, too, so it’s better for deliberate plays than constant action.

Payment Methods

Funding your Crypto.com trades keeps it simple: everything runs on USD in your Cash Account, fully collateralized, so there are no margin complications.

The first time I tried, I linked my Chase account through Plaid for ACH Direct Deposit – free, but it cleared in one to three days. Wire works, too, if you’re moving bigger chunks.

Crypto funding is also available. Tap BTC, ETH, whatever from your 350+ holdings and swap to USD in seconds with no chain delays.

Pulling money out flips it – settled USD via ACH or wire back to your bank. Crypto swaps fly at the same speed.

It’s hands-on, however, it’s clunkier than binary brokers’ instant card deposits or e-wallets that are available anywhere. This is fine, but you’ll need to plan if you’re used to cashing out daily trades.

Customer Support

Customer support for Crypto.com’s prediction markets and strike options starts with in-app chat. Tap the help icon from the Predict tab, type your issue – like a settlement hang-up or weird position sizing – and skip the bot by picking a live agent.

We’ve used it and response times are usually five to 15 minutes, but we’ve waited up to two hours on busy nights when everyone’s piling into Fed rate contracts.

There is also email support, but no phone support, which isn’t ideal before a big expiry. The website’s help center covers basics, solid funding steps, and fee breakdowns – but for quirky stuff like slippage on low-liquidity contracts, live chat is your go-to.

We’ve found that if you screenshot your order history first, it speeds things up.​

Should You Trade Prediction Markets And Strike Options With Crypto.com?

Crypto.com’s prediction markets and strike options work well for aspiring traders in the US, the only region where they’re supported, who value CFTC oversight and a polished mobile experience. The mechanics are straightforward, and fees are competitive. For binary traders in the US who used or were interested in the Nadex platform, it’s an obvious app to try.

That said, some competitors offer broader catalogs and it’s not the traditional binary options found on many trading platforms we’ve tested. Crypto.com’s narrower selection creates fewer opportunities, but you might find that regulatory compliance outweighs variety. Either way, start conservatively and test what suits your trading rhythm.

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