Eventus, a leading provider of comprehensive, at-scale trade surveillance and financial risk solutions, and Underdog, the sports prediction market and fantasy sports pioneer, today announced that Underdog is using the Eventus Validus platform for trade surveillance on its designated contract market (DCM). Surveillance and monitoring procedures are actively running across Underdog's markets, and the marketplace is continuing to expand its use of Validus capabilities.
In July, Underdog announced the launch of its own federally licensed prediction market exchange, wholly owned and operated by Underdog and licensed by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which provides customers even more ways to express their opinions on sports, culture and beyond, all within the existing Underdog app.
Nick Thompson, Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) at Underdog Exchange, said Eventus' standing as a known, trusted platform among regulators, including the CFTC, and experience across exchanges, futures commission merchants (FCMs) and broker-dealers helped Underdog hit the ground running on surveillance infrastructure.
He said: "Underdog's mission is to build markets people can trust, and that starts with rigorous oversight. Robust trade surveillance isn't a compliance checkbox for us; it's core to maintaining a fair, orderly market as we scale. We take very seriously our responsibilities as a market operator, and we're investing in institutional-grade surveillance infrastructure proactively."
Underdog recognized that it needed a platform that would scale to accommodate rapid growth.
Thompson said: "As our volume and product set continue to grow, we need surveillance technology that grows with us. Validus' configurability lets us tailor alerts and monitoring procedures to our specific market structure rather than adapting our business to fit the tool. We're also excited about Eventus' investment in automation and machine learning."
He added: "I've used Eventus' Validus platform since 2019, first as CCO of a high-frequency trading firm, and later to lead swap execution facilities and DCMs through the thorough CFTC application process, where the surveillance demonstration is the centerpiece. Surveillance is where my compliance career started, not just a function I oversee. Eventus is the platform that's kept up with that standard across every environment I've deployed it in."
Eventus CEO Cameron Routh said: "Prediction markets are one of the fastest-growing and most closely watched corners of finance, and the surveillance bar has to match that scrutiny. Underdog is building in that oversight from the ground up, rather than treating it as an afterthought, and we're proud Validus is the platform they trust to do it. Partnerships like this shape our roadmap directly, and are why Validus keeps getting better for prediction markets, traditional capital markets and digital assets."
