Case 2:25-cv-00978-APG-BNW Document 75 Filed 09/15/25 Page 11 of 20
potentially be associated with Crypto.com’s sports event contracts are related to the outcome of the
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games, not the occurrence or nonoccurrence of the games. Crypto.com’s sports event contracts
are not hedging opportunities for interested parties to supplement the risk of a cancelled sporting
event; instead, they are merely speculative wagers on the outcome of that sporting event or parts
thereof. They are, therefore, not dependent upon, or otherwise related to, any potential “financial,
commercial, or economic consequence.”
Moreover, the other provisions within the definitions of “swap” and “excluded commodity”
provide further insight into Congress’s intention when adding the terms to the CEA. See 7 U.S.C.
§§ 1a(19)(i)–(iii), 1a(47)(A)(i), (iii)–(vi). Specifically, under the canon of noscitur a sociis , the
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potential “financial, economic, or commercial consequence[s]” required under the definition of
“swap” or “excluded commodity” must relate to rates, currencies, commodities, securities,
instruments of indebtedness, indices, and other such quantitative measures. Id. The outcome of a
sporting event is not so limited.
4)
The self-certification provisions of the CEA and CFTC regulations are invalid, and therefore Crypto.com’s sports event contracts offered pursuant thereto are invalid
The CEA’s self-certification provisions are invalid, rendering both the CFTC’s
implementing regulations allowing for self-certification and the contracts issued pursuant to those
regulations invalid. The statutory and regulatory framework governing new event contracts
delegates sweeping authority to private entities to implement binding regulatory decisions without
meaningful federal oversight. This violates the nondelegation doctrine, which guards precisely the
type of unchecked, privately exercised regulatory power that Crypto.com relies on to list and trade
its sports event contracts.
The CEA establishes a self-certification process that permits registered entities to introduce
new financial instruments, including event contracts, without prior regulatory approval. This
scheme permits private entities, like Crypto.com, to exercise extraordinary regulatory authority—
approving, implementing, and launching nationwide sports betting—without any meaningful
federal oversight.
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