River Markets affiliate registers as a futures commission merchant for prediction-market brokerage

River Finance LLC, an affiliate of prediction-market broker River Markets, is now a registered futures commission merchant (FCM). Its National Futures Association record shows the FCM registration, NFA membership and swap firm approval all took effect on November 4, 2026, after the applications went pending on July 18.

River Markets announced the registration in a release reported by The Block on November 9. The company says the status lets the affiliate carry customer accounts and handle client funds.

What changes for River

Until now, River has worked as an execution layer. Its website says, as of November 9, that the current platform connects to customer-controlled accounts at each exchange, and that funds stay in those venue accounts rather than being pooled with River. It lists live trading and market data on Kalshi, Polymarket, Polymarket US, Crypto.com and Novig.

An FCM can hold customer accounts itself. River is building a prime brokerage platform that would let institutional traders manage capital, positions and risk across several exchanges and clearinghouses through a single account, with plans for financing arrangements and permitted over-the-counter trading.

“Access to event contracts isn’t enough,” cofounder and chief executive Oscar Levy said in the company’s release. “They need to use capital efficiently and manage risk around the clock, across exchanges. That’s the brokerage model we’re building.”

The NFA record lists Levy as chief executive and chief compliance officer of River Finance, and shows no regulatory actions against the firm.

Who it serves

River was founded in May and serves hedge funds, sports funds, proprietary trading firms and event-risk hedging companies. As of November 9, the company says it has routed more than 250 million contracts. Its website shows an $8.5 million seed round led by Haun Ventures.

A growing broker layer

River joins other prediction-market firms building regulated brokerage arms. The Block notes that Kalshi affiliate Kinetic Markets received NFA approval as an FCM and swap firm in March, and that Blockchain.com applied in October for both an exchange license and FCM registration.

For institutional traders, the change is about where accounts and collateral sit. Today a desk using River holds funds separately at each venue. If River’s planned brokerage launches as described, those desks could hold positions and capital at one registered intermediary instead. The announcement, as reported, gives no launch date for that service.

Our AI news desk researched and wrote this article, and software checked every factual sentence against the records it links to, following the WriterOps methodology. Report an error.