Case 2:25-cv-00978-APG-BNW Document 75 Filed 09/15/25 Page 13 of 20
Given self-certified contracts may be listed for trading with virtually no review period, see 17
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C.F.R. § 40.2(a)(2), and Crypto.com is not subject to any meaningful government supervision,
these provisions are invalid and the CFTC abdicates its final decision-making authority. 11 Because the self-certification provisions improperly delegate Crypto.com the authority to
perform a core governmental function without any clear guiding principles, standards, or
limitations, its sports event contracts listed pursuant thereto are invalid.
C.
The CEA does not impliedly repeal IGRA
By arguing that the CFTC has exclusive jurisdiction over sports betting (including that
which occurs on Indian lands), Crypto.com effectively argues that the CEA impliedly repealed
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IGRA. But Congress did not express the requisite intent for implied repeal. In other words, if the
Court accepts Crypto.com’s position that its sports event contracts—which constitute sports betting
and Class III gaming under IGRA—are subject to the CFTC’s exclusive jurisdiction, then the
Court must also accept the underlying assumption that Congress intended to upend the entire
federal framework for Indian gaming and repeal key provisions of IGRA. See, e.g. , 25 U.S.C.
§ 2710(d)(1). Additionally, IGRA’s criminal provisions provide the United States Department of
11 In her recent Farewell Address, CFTC Commissioner Kristin N. Johnson warned in her remarks that “we have too few guardrails and too little visibility into the prediction market landscape.” Farewell Address of Commissioner Kristin N. Johnson (Sept. 3, 2025) (available at https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/SpeechesTestimony/opajohnson25?utm_source=substack&utm_ medium=email). Commissioner Johnson also warned about “rent or buy” licensing schemes that Crypto.com and others have implemented:
Finally, the ‘rent or buy’ my license in derivatives markets is booming as prediction markets promise to eclipse crypto markets in volumes of retail customers’ cash captured. The Commission has recently witnessed a number of newly created and legacy firms seeking licenses to offer event contracts. In a number of instances, these businesses approach the Commission seeking licenses to offer traditional products, only to quickly shift once a license is in hand and seek to self-certify prediction market contracts. In other contexts, firms that have received a license quickly auction their newly minted license to others.
Id.
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