Kazakhstan-based ITS launches Prediction Market with event options linked to Bitcoin, SpaceX and central bank rates

Kazakhstan-based international trading platform ITS has launched Prediction Market, a new product line that allows eligible investors to take positions on the outcomes of financial and economic events.

Astana, Kazakhstan, Sept. 11, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Kazakhstan-based international trading platform ITS has launched Prediction Market, a new product line that allows eligible investors to take positions on the outcomes of financial and economic events.

The first event options are linked to Bitcoin, SpaceX, the base rate of the National Bank of Kazakhstan and the U.S. Federal Reserve rate.

ITS operates under the jurisdiction of the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) and is licensed by the Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) as a multilateral trading facility. The platform focuses on providing access to international markets, particularly U.S.-listed securities.

ITS is designed to connect investors and liquidity across major trading regions. Its nearly 19-hour trading session starts during Asian market hours, continues through the European session and runs until almost three hours after the main session closes on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. This gives investors access to global securities as trading activity moves from Asia to Western markets.

More than 3,200 instruments are available on ITS, including shares, depositary receipts and ETFs. The platform currently has 23 trading participants from seven countries – Kazakhstan, Armenia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Kyrgyzstan, Oman and South Africa.

Prediction Market adds a new type of instrument to the platform. Instead of taking a position only on how the price of an asset will move, investors can take a position on the probability of a specific event.

The initial lineup includes four event options:

• Bitcoin – whether the price of BTC will be above the specified reference level
• SpaceX – whether the price of SPCX will be above the specified reference level
• National Bank of Kazakhstan rate – whether the base rate will exceed 16.75%
• U.S. Federal Reserve rate – whether the upper bound of the target range for the federal funds rate set by the FOMC will be above 3.75%

Each option is based on a specific condition that will either be met or not. Until the settlement date, the option trades between $0.01 and $0.99, with its price determined by supply and demand. The price reflects market participants’ collective assessment of the probability of the relevant outcome.

If the condition is met at settlement, the option’s settlement value is $1. If it is not met, the value is $0.

“The launch of Prediction Market is an important step in the development of ITS’s product offering and the region’s financial infrastructure. Financial markets have learned to trade asset prices. Today, we are adding another dimension – the ability to trade event probabilities,” said Kurmet Orazayev, CEO of ITS.

“Investors gain a simple tool to express their view of the future, while the market gains a new way to form a collective assessment of that future. Bitcoin, SpaceX and central bank decisions are only the beginning. In time, these contracts could cover a wide range of events and scenarios, from macroeconomic indicators and commodity markets to corporate events,” Orazayev added.

Trading began on September 8 at the third annual ITS Ideas 2026 conference, held as part of Astana Finance Days, with representatives of the AIFC taking part in the launch.

The event options are being introduced through AFSA’s FinTech Lab, a regulatory framework that allows new financial products to be tested in a controlled environment. ITS has received AFSA approval to launch event options within FinTech Lab.

The contracts – available to eligible professional clients and semi-professional clients, subject to the applicable requirements – are fully funded, with no margin trading or leverage permitted.

ITS plans to expand Prediction Market by adding new events, markets and scenarios.

About ITS

ITS is a trading platform operating under the jurisdiction of the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC). It was the first multilateral trading facility licensed by the Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA).

ITS focuses on providing access to international markets, particularly securities listed in the United States. The platform offers investors more than 3,200 global market instruments listed in the U.S. and Kazakhstan, including shares, depositary receipts and ETFs.

ITS was designed as an international trading hub connecting markets across time zones. Its nearly 19-hour trading session runs from 09:00 to 03:45 the following day, Astana time, spanning Asian, European and U.S. market hours. This allows investors to remain active as trading moves from Asian markets to Europe and America.

ITS also develops its own market indexes and investment products. The platform calculates the ITS World Index and ITS Shariah Index, which serve as benchmarks for exchange-traded funds available on ITS. The ITS World Index tracks 50 global companies, while the ITS Shariah Index comprises 30 large-cap U.S.-listed companies that meet Shariah investment criteria.

Among the products developed with ITS are ETFs based on these proprietary indexes. The platform also provides access to shares of companies conducting U.S. IPOs before regular trading begins in New York.

In 2025, total trading volume on ITS exceeded $14 billion, 70 times the 2024 figure. More than 1.2 million investors have access to trading on the platform.

ITS has 23 trading participants from seven countries – Kazakhstan, Armenia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Kyrgyzstan, Oman and South Africa.

ITS clients are professional securities market participants from Kazakhstan and other countries – financial intermediaries accredited or registered with the AIFC. Retail and corporate investors access trading through financial intermediaries, including brokers and banks.

CONTACT: Email: [email protected]

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