Prediction markets are rapidly gaining traction in financial markets, but the sector's future may hinge on how regulators ultimately define them. The heads of several of the world's largest exchanges debated the issue during a panel at the FIA Global Cleared Markets Conference in Boca Raton, where the fast growth of event-based trading has collided with lingering questions about whether such contracts are financial products or simply gambling.

CME Group is preparing to offer 24/7 trading for cryptocurrency futures and options, subject to regulatory approval, Tim McCourt, global head of equities at CME, said at the 2026 FIA Global Cleared Markets Conference. "The way we're approaching risk on the weekend... it's really about taking all that infrastructure that we've built... and just availing it now on Saturday and Sunday. It's not necessarily building different protocols but extending them onto the Saturday and Sunday session," McCourt said.

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Wall Street firms are accelerating the use of tokenization to move assets such as Treasurys, commodities and money-market funds onto blockchain-based infrastructure, with executives saying broader adoption is likely in the second half of 2026. Industry leaders say the technology is moving beyond pilot projects as firms pursue faster settlement, better collateral efficiency and lower operational risk, though regulatory fragmentation and integration with legacy systems remain key obstacles.

Prediction markets are attracting interest from institutional investors as brokers such as Clear Street and Marex Group plan to offer access to Kalshi's event bets. Hedge funds and other investors are seeking to use prediction markets for financial hedging and alternative data. "Institutions are all over prediction markets right now," says Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour. "There has been a drastic acceleration of institutional interest."

Nadine Chakar, global head of digital assets at the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, discusses the use cases and benefits of tokenization in a Bloomberg Crypto interview conducted during the FIA Global Cleared Markets Conference in Boca Raton, Fla. Chakar emphasizes that tokenization offers choice and flexibility for financial markets.

Fateen Sharaby, head of index derivatives at Bloomberg, discusses how Bloomberg is sourcing data for prediction markets, and expanding into products such as credit index futures and equity futures.

Jump Trading Chief Investment Officer Dave Olsen said proprietary automated market makers are emerging as a new concept drawing attention across trading firms. Speaking at FIA Boca 2026, Olsen said the model allows users to deploy their own liquidity algorithms on decentralized platforms, effectively creating "a mini Jump Trading."

Trading Technologies Chief Strategy Officer Nicholas Garrow highlights the bifurcation of interest in prediction markets between financial and nonfinancial events on the sidelines of FIA's Global Cleared Markets Conference. Garrow also discusses the firm's new FX trading capabilities, fixed-income initiative and the acquisition of OpenGamma to help clients with margin optimization.

Korea Exchange has signed agreements with Eurex and ICE Futures US to extend trading hours for Korea-related index derivatives, allowing investors to trade the products on European and US exchanges without time restrictions. The move aims to improve global access to Korean derivatives markets as part of efforts to support South Korea's inclusion in the MSCI developed markets index.

Gregory Yu, head of markets at Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, talks about the company's focus on retail participation on the sidelines of FIA's Global Cleared Markets Conference. Yu also provides an update on Hong Kong's fixed-income and currencies market development roadmap and discusses the launch of China government bond futures and revamped gold futures.

Kraken has partnered with Nasdaq to create a gateway for tokenized equities, facilitating movement between regulated and on-chain markets. "We're getting closer to how banks operate," Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi says.

JB Mackenzie, vice president and general manager of futures and prediction markets at Robinhood, returns to the Modern Money SmartPod to discusses the rapid evolution of prediction markets, the future of 24/7 trading, the integration of prediction markets into financial ecosystems and the potential of perpetual futures.

Euronext Chief Diversification Officer Camille Beudin sits down with the Modern Money SmartPod to outline three main strategic objectives for the company: growing nonvolume-related revenue, expanding into fixed income, currencies and commodities and launching new products.

Intercontinental Exchange CEO Jeff Sprecher discussed the increasing trend of markets becoming dollar-denominated and the impact of digital ledgers and blockchain technology on trading during the FIA Global Cleared Markets Conference. Sprecher highlighted the shift toward 24/7 trading facilitated by these technologies.