Polymarket has finally fully opened access to its U.S. exchange for iOS users, ending its waitlist more than six months after it first accepted bets on its Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)-registered platform.
Polymarket’s app now immediately shows odds on the homepage, rather than asking for an invitation code as it had done since launching in October. The sign-up process also does not require a code.
Polymarket U.S. has not yet launched an Android app or on the web.
Polymarket’s full U.S. return has been much slower than many anticipated when it purchased CFTC-registered QCEX and announced plans to relaunch in July, or when CEO Shayne Coplan claimed the company had a “green light” to do so in September.
Polymarket US growth in waitlist era
Trade data shows that it first processed trades in October, initially at very low volume. By mid-November, however, volume on NFL Sundays had reached six figures.
In December, Polymarket moved to the next phase of its launch, as it began rolling users off its waitlist.
Just ahead of the 2026 NCAA men’s basketball tournament, access codes became much easier to come by.
Daily volume soared, hitting $50 million on March 20, and then approached the $100 million mark during The Masters in April, though this was partly due to a smaller number of extremely large trades.
During March, Polymarket U.S. overtook Crypto.com to become the second-largest CFTC-registered prediction market.
Despite the growth, Polymarket’s U.S. site is still some way behind Kalshi, where daily volume routinely exceeds $500 million.
Polymarket U.S has averaged a little under $50 million in volume in the last seven days.
Polymarket U.S.’s waitlist includes more than 1.4 million users, but many of these had likely already received access, and users who signed up twice with the same information appear to have been counted twice.
The Information reported last week that Polymarket U.S. was “struggling with turnover, banking issues and questions about leadership.” It said that U.S. CEO Justin Hertzberg — who had been CEO of QCEX prior to the acquisition — appeared to be the chief executive of the business “in name only.”
Last month, Bloomberg reported that Polymarket was working to bring its better-known international exchange back to the U.S. That exchange currently blocks users with U.S. IP addresses from trading, though it appears that many Americans trade via VPNs. Currently, certain elements of the international Polymarket exchange may not be possible under existing CFTC rules. It is not clear at this point how the platform or rules may change to allow the exchange to take U.S. customers again.
