The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) took a historic step on Friday by approving the first true bitcoin perpetual contract to be listed and traded on a CFTC-registered exchange, Kalshi. The agency also issued a no-action letter to Coinbase, allowing certain ether and bitcoin perpetual futures to be offered through its subsidiary. The move marks the first time the world's most sophisticated financial system has opened a regulated door for crypto perpetuals, which have until now largely existed offshore.
Perpetual contracts, or "perps," are derivative instruments with no expiration date, designed to track the spot price of an underlying asset through periodic funding rate payments. First theorized by Nobel laureate Robert Shiller in 1992, they have become a cornerstone of global crypto markets, enabling continuous price exposure and efficient risk management without the need to roll over contracts.
CFTC Chairman Mike Selig, appointed by President Donald Trump, framed the approval as a fulfillment of the president's goal to make the U.S. the "crypto capital of the world." In an opinion piece published Friday, Selig wrote that the new framework "can limit excessive leverage, volatility and systemic risk, rather than pushing those risks offshore to unregulated venues." The Kalshi contract, named BTCPERP, must comply with all applicable provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act.
Coinbase's no-action letter permits its CFM subsidiary to offer perpetual futures routed through Coinbase Bermuda, treated as foreign futures, and allows customers to post digital assets—including bitcoin, ether, and stablecoins—as margin collateral. This dual-track approach signals that a broader pathway for compliant perpetuals is opening under Selig's leadership.
The development comes with warnings. The agency acknowledged the risks of leveraged perps, citing a flash crash this week on Hyperliquid where a single outsized position erased $1.5 million in notional value within 30 minutes. Still, Selig emphasized that the choice was never whether perpetual contracts would exist, but whether they would operate under "American oversight, American standards and American rule of law."
Industry observers note that the CFTC's current stance, while significant, is not yet enshrined in formal rules or legislation, leaving it potentially reversible by future administrations. The move follows other crypto-friendly policies, including joint CFTC-SEC guidance in March defining crypto asset classifications and an expected SEC rule to foster tokenization of securities.
