River Markets plans to give institutional clients a single trading gateway to prediction markets and crypto spot markets after signing memorandums of understanding with OG.com and Crypto.com Exchange on October 20. Under the preliminary arrangement, River would provide the trading interface, order routing and risk-management tools; OG.com would supply event contracts, while Crypto.com Exchange would provide spot-market liquidity. No launch date has been announced.
For macro funds and quantitative trading teams, the proposed integration could reduce the operational burden of connecting to multiple platforms and allow different types of digital-asset exposure to be managed within one workflow. The three companies have not said whether event contracts and spot trading would share collateral or settlement systems, leaving it unclear whether clients will be able to manage funds across the two markets through a unified process.
River to provide the interface as platforms retain separate roles
Under the proposed structure, River would operate the client-facing trading platform and provide order routing and risk tools. OG.com would offer event contracts through its exchange and clearing organization regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, while Crypto.com Exchange would supply liquidity for spot crypto assets. The two partner platforms cover different products, which River aims to bring into existing institutional trading workflows.
The agreement follows River's expansion of its institutional offering. In August this year, the company raised $8.5 million to develop execution and prime-brokerage services for institutions trading prediction markets. Positions and liquidity in these markets are often spread across multiple platforms, and River is seeking to serve hedge funds and quantitative trading teams by combining market access with related trading and risk tools.
Iskandar Vanblarcum, managing director at Crypto.com Exchange, said prediction-market participants are looking for more sophisticated strategies and that the partnership would allow institutional trading teams to manage a broader range of digital-asset exposure on a single platform. The statement signals demand from platforms for consolidated access, but the agreement does not yet provide further details on the products to be offered, execution arrangements or rollout schedule.
Institutional participation remains limited
Institutional interest in prediction markets has increased, but adoption is still narrow. A survey released in June by Acuiti and the Singapore Exchange found that 9% of surveyed derivatives institutions were trading prediction markets. The figure indicates that these products have reached some professional trading desks, while remaining far from broad institutional use.
Kalshi has also disclosed figures on institutional participation. Andy Ross, the platform's head of institutional business, recently said that institutions opening accounts with or already trading on the platform collectively manage more than $1 trillion in assets. He also said institutional activity represents a significant share of the platform's business and that institutions frequently trade with one another. The figure refers to assets managed by those institutions and does not represent assets held on Kalshi or trading volume on the platform.
Oscar Levy, River's co-founder and chief executive, said prediction markets had developed from a niche asset class into information infrastructure for global macro and quantitative trading teams. That view reflects River's business positioning, while available participation data shows that institutional adoption remains at an early stage.
Memorandum does not yet provide live market access
For River clients, the immediate limitation is that the new connections are not yet live. The three companies have not announced an integration date, and the memorandum describes planned distribution and access arrangements rather than an active service. Clients cannot currently be assumed to have access through River to OG.com event contracts or spot assets on Crypto.com Exchange.
Whether the arrangement becomes a full institutional trading service will depend on how the technical connections, risk controls and settlement processes are implemented. The details disclosed so far cover River's interface and tools, along with the separate products and liquidity supplied by the two partner platforms. No common collateral or settlement mechanism covering both product types has been described.