The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a public statement on 3 July reminding firms that products marketed as "event contracts" may still be subject to the bloc's long-standing prohibition on binary options for retail clients, regardless of their commercial branding. The statement, addressed to both firms and national competent authorities (NCAs), responds to the rising popularity of prediction markets globally and growing retail participation in them. ESMA defines event contracts as agreements with a binary financial outcome, either a fixed payout or nothing, that hinges on a yes-or-no answer to ... (full story)