Backpack launches closed-beta prediction markets with cross-margin feature

Backpack Exchange, the crypto trading platform founded by former FTX employees, has launched a private beta of “Unified Prediction Portfolio,” its crypto prediction market product.

The company announced the private beta rollout on Tuesday, offering select active traders the ability to place bets on crypto and financial market outcomes through a cross-margined portfolio system.

Unlike standalone prediction platforms, Backpack integrates prediction markets with its existing spot trading, perpetual futures, and lending products within a single account, the company said.

“Prediction markets are notoriously inefficient,” Backpack CEO Armani Ferrante said in a post on X. “You lock up your USD in a prediction, it’s stuck there for the duration of an event, and often this means that, even if you have edge on a bet, you don’t make it due to the opportunity cost of capital.”

Ferrante said Backpack intends to break down those silos. Its system uses cross-collateralization, allowing the same capital to support positions across multiple product types simultaneously, according to the announcement. A trader could place a prediction bet, hedge it with a perpetual futures contract, and maintain spot positions — all within a single margin account.

Ferrante framed this development as part of a broader effort to build a vertically integrated exchange where traders can deploy capital once and then use it flexibly across products.

The beta is initially invite-only, with invitations being extended to the platform’s most active traders. The team will gauge market response and refine the risk engine ahead of broader availability, the company said.

Backpack’s prediction markets push comes after a transformative year for the company.

In January 2025, the exchange acquired FTX EU, the European arm of the collapsed crypto giant. This gave Backpack access to a MiFID II-regulated framework. In April, the company initiated asset recovery for users whose funds had been frozen since the 2022 FTX collapse.

The prediction markets sector experienced explosive growth over the past year. Kalshi recorded $6.26 billion in trading volume in December 2025, up from $5.81 billion in November, while Polymarket’s volume reached $2.28 billion in December, compared to $1.87 billion the prior month, according to The Block’s dashboard.

Prediction markets as a whole has become more visible in the mainstream as the major platforms onboarded key partnerships. Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan touted the platform’s integration with the 2026 Golden Globes awards as “the single most mainstream prediction market integration to date.”