CFTC Moves to Classify Event Contracts as Swaps

Framing event contracts as swaps is less about product design than about drawing a jurisdictional line: it gives the CFTC a statutory hook to argue that regulated prediction markets sit under federal, not state, oversight. That matters most for platforms whose business model depends on a single consistent rulebook rather than a patchwork of state positions. The unresolved question is whether courts accept the swap label as a genuine fit or treat it as a jurisdictional reach, since that determination shapes how far the agency's exclusive-authority claim can travel.