How a Major U.S. Sports App Is Reshaping Prediction Market Access Through CDNA Integration

The sports-gaming landscape is evolving in a significant way. Underdog, a rapidly expanding U.S. sports-gaming platform, has joined forces with Crypto.com’s derivatives affiliate CDNA to embed regulated prediction market contracts directly within its mobile application. This move marks a watershed moment—the first instance of a mainstream sports operator integrating a federally regulated prediction exchange into its consumer-facing product.

What This Partnership Actually Changes

The collaboration transforms how sports enthusiasts can engage with event outcomes. Through Underdog’s app, users now gain access to live-updating contracts spanning major leagues: the NFL, college football, NBA, and MLB. The technical backbone comes from CDNA, which operates as a CFTC-designated contract market, while Underdog handles the user interface and experience layer. This division of labor means real-time pricing and instant trade execution as games unfold—a feature that syncs with how modern sports fans consume live action.

What stands out is the unified platform approach. Underdog is now the only U.S. operator offering fantasy sports, traditional sportsbooks, and prediction markets within a single application. Rather than forcing users to toggle between separate platforms, the three product categories coexist seamlessly.

The Regulatory Infrastructure Behind the Deal

Neither company is entering uncharted territory from a compliance standpoint. CDNA holds CFTC registration as both a designated contract market and derivatives clearing organization, establishing the federal regulatory spine for these contracts. Underdog holds gaming licenses across multiple states and is applying those same responsible-gaming protocols—the ones already embedded in its fantasy and betting products—to prediction market operations.

This regulatory clarity appears deliberate. The partnership frames prediction markets not as speculative edge cases but as a regulated, mass-market offering. Customers seeking a federally compliant way to trade event contracts now have a pathway that doesn’t require jumping to separate exchanges or less-regulated venues.

Market Positioning and Industry Trajectory

Industry observers have been monitoring prediction markets closely as the category expands beyond election forecasting and niche financial instruments into mainstream consumer use. By tethering a registered derivatives exchange to a popular sports application, both organizations are signaling their view of where this market heads: toward integration within existing sports-entertainment platforms rather than standalone trading venues.

The pitch to users is economical—one app, multiple ways to engage. For Underdog, founded in 2020 and built on proprietary technology stacks for fantasy and betting, this represents a natural product extension. For Crypto.com and CDNA, the arrangement broadens access to regulated derivatives offerings to a sizable consumer base without requiring separate exchange infrastructure.

The responsible-gaming standards baked into this launch matter as well. Customer protections applied to fantasy and sportsbook functions will carry forward into prediction markets, setting a standard for how this emerging category integrates into mainstream products.

What Comes Next

The launch targets jurisdictions and players seeking a compliant, transparent way to express views on game outcomes. The integration sits at an intersection: prediction-market innovation meeting sports-gaming ubiquity. Whether this model becomes the template for other platform collaborations remains to be seen, but the regulatory clarity and user-experience focus suggest the category may be moving from experiment into infrastructure.