The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) designated Juice Exchange LLC as a contract market Friday, 178 days after its application first appeared in the agency’s pending designated contract markets (DCM) portal on Jan. 27.
The approval allows the little-known Florida-based startup, which will operate as JuiceX, to run a federally regulated derivatives exchange.
In the CFTC’s Order of Designation, the agency said JuiceX will offer trading through “an anonymous electronic central limit order book” and that all contracts listed on the exchange will be cleared on a “fully collateralized basis” through a derivatives clearing organization (DCO). The agency said JuiceX has met the requirements applicable to DCM.
The company has revealed little publicly about its intended products, but its job postings make clear that prediction markets are central to the venture. “JuiceX is a rapidly growing prediction markets exchange,” the company said in a LinkedIn job listing. “Our company is building the infrastructure to offer a fully compliant, transparent, and innovative marketplace for event driven contracts under U.S. regulatory frameworks.”
JuiceX has not announced a launch date or identified the contracts it plans to list first. Its sparse website says the platform remains in development and is not accepting orders or customer funds.
Job postings reveal JuiceX retail ambitions
JuiceX’s hiring postings offer the clearest look at its plans, describing a consumer-facing exchange preparing to monitor live trading, support individual customers and build a sizable user base.
The LinkedIn listing for control center analyst says employees will provide “real-time monitoring and operational oversight of JuiceX’s Exchange,” identifying market or system anomalies and responding to trading disruptions and participant errors. Analysts would also help review events that could require trade adjustments or cancellations and work nights, weekends or holidays to ensure continuous oversight.
A separate customer support posting indicates JuiceX expects to deal directly with traders. The role would handle “account setup and onboarding, trade-related questions and disputes, deposits and withdrawals, and platform usability,” while coordinating with the company’s compliance, market operations and technology teams.
JuiceX was also seeking a head of marketing responsible for customer acquisition, activation and retention. A Growth.Talent page for the archived position said the marketing chief would be expected to scale the company’s leading acquisition channels to more than 5,000 new users per month within six months, with monthly active users and 30- and 90-day retention among the role’s key performance measures.
Another posting sought a copywriter to build the company’s social media presence “from zero” and develop advertising, email, app store and product copy. It said assignments could include “a thread explaining why a live, continuously priced spread beats a static line,” language that suggests JuiceX may market some contracts as an alternative to conventional sportsbook offerings, although the company has not confirmed a sports focus.
Who is behind JuiceX?
Public corporate documents show JuiceX Holdings LLC owns 100% of Juice Exchange, while JuiceX Inc., a Delaware corporation registered in Florida with a principal address in Doral, is the sole owner of JuiceX Holdings. The filings do not disclose the shareholders behind JuiceX Inc.
Daniel Cudgma organized the two LLCs and signed the DCM application as JuiceX’s CEO. Before JuiceX, Cudgma worked at Tangent Capital Partners, which says he previously served as a research analyst at technology startup Tiptap. FINRA records show he was registered as a broker from 2015 to 2016.
The application identifies Joseph Battista as chief operating officer. His LinkedIn profile says he joined JuiceX after eight years at Forbright Bank. Florida corporate records list Cudgma as JuiceX Inc.’s director, president, CEO, secretary and treasurer, although those positions do not establish his ownership stake.
JuiceX provided ownership information to the CFTC but requested confidential treatment for Exhibit A. The company also withheld exhibits covering its board, organizational structure, personnel, financial resources and third-party contracts, leaving its investors and financial backing outside the public record.
Other members of the team bring substantial futures industry experience. Rick Tomsic identifies himself on LinkedIn as JuiceX’s chief strategist. Tomsic founded retail futures platform Tradovate, which NinjaTrader acquired for $115 million in 2022, then joined NinjaTrader as chief strategy officer and served on its board.
Matt Lisle’s LinkedIn profile identifies him as JuiceX’s general counsel and chief regulatory officer. Lisle previously served as Wedbush’s futures chief compliance officer and held senior compliance roles at ABN AMRO Clearing Chicago, NYSE and Eurex, according to a Wedbush biography.
JuiceX turns to Polymarket Clearing
JuiceX’s rulebook says it will clear “all binary option contracts through QC Clearing.” QC Clearing LLC now operates as Polymarket Clearing, the DCO in Polymarket’s U.S. regulatory structure. The rules also allow customers to access JuiceX directly or through futures commission merchants and introducing brokers.
Polymarket Clearing has also been selected by other outside exchanges, at least initially. Railbird initially planned to use QC Clearing, but the DraftKings-owned exchange switched to Bitnomial Clearinghouse before launching the proprietary platform. Gemini also used Polymarket Clearing before moving clearing activity to its own Gemini Olympus clearinghouse. In a July 16 filing, QC Clearing sought CFTC approval to transfer the remaining open interest to Olympus.
Using an existing clearinghouse allows JuiceX to operate without registering or acquiring its own DCO. The full terms of the relationship are not public because JuiceX requested confidential treatment for its third-party contracts.
JuiceX appears headed for launch
JuiceX’s hiring activity and operational filings point more toward an independent launch than a DCM assembled primarily for acquisition. The company is building teams for live market oversight, customer support and consumer marketing, while its rules anticipate direct customer access and third-party clearing.
An eventual sale cannot be entirely ruled out, however. Fanatics announced Monday that it would acquire Water Street Labs and CX Clearinghouse from BGC Group, just 11 days after the CFTC designated Water Street as a DCM.
The rapid sequence shows how newly approved exchange infrastructure can become strategically valuable to a consumer company seeking its own regulated prediction market operation, although nothing in JuiceX’s public filings or hiring materials indicates it is currently pursuing a buyer.
