The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has paved the way for US traders to access one of the most important derivatives markets for cryptocurrencies, approving the first true Bitcoin futures contract on a US exchange and issuing a parallel subsidy that allows Coinbase to direct US clients to global options and options liquidity.
On Friday, the agency consent KalshiEX, LLC’s BTCPERP contract, a perpetual futures product that references the spot price of Bitcoin and is traded on Kalshi’s CFTC-regulated custom contracts market.
At the same time, staff granted Coinbase Financial Markets a no-action exemption, allowing it to offer digital commodity derivatives – including access to offshore venues – to US clients through a futures commission trading structure registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Perpetual futures contracts, or “PERPs,” are a type of futures contract a contract With no expiry date it allows traders to bet on the price movement of the asset without directly owning it.
It has become the dominant product in cryptocurrency derivatives trading, with most activity historically focused on offshore platforms.
Michael Selig, head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), described the move as a watershed moment for the US market structure.
“This morning, the CFTC took historic action to allow the listing of a true perpetual Bitcoin contract through a CFTC-registered exchange, charting a path for one of the most liquid sectors of crypto asset markets to exist within the US regulatory framework,” Selig said. He said In a post on X.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong quickly seized on the news, highlighting the extent of market access the agency has effectively liberalized. “A great day for US-based traders and for Coinbase.” books on
Through Coinbase Financial Markets, institutional clients will be able to access global options and options — including Deribit, which boasts tens of billions of dollars of open interest bitcoin options — via a single US-regulated FCM.
24/7 CFTC advisory
Friday’s announcements did not come in isolation. Along with the product procedures, the CFTC’s Clearing and Risk Division, Market Surveillance Division and Market Participant Division have issued instructions to employees consultative Trading, clearing and settlement of financial derivatives 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The consultation is not a formal rulemaking process, but it provides a window into how the agency thinks about round-the-clock markets that are increasingly enabled by blockchain technology and decentralized infrastructure.
Commission staff said they had noticed a growing interest in efficient 24/7 trading, driven in part by digital asset markets.
“Therefore, the Commission staff believes that the consultation, which identifies the potential risks associated with 24/7 trading, clearing, and settlement, and the ways in which these risks are addressed by existing Commission regulations, may help promote continued market strength, along with responsible innovation and fair competition among market participants,” the staff wrote.
In practice, the combination of Calci’s approval, Coinbase’s no-action stance, and 24/7 consultations amount to a blueprint for how US-regulated entities can deliver and help domesticate the global perpetual market.
Kalshi can list fully regulated bitcoin on its exchange, while Coinbase, through the FCM, can connect US clients to deep offshore liquidity pools without forcing them to join dedicated offshore corporate structures.
Under President Selig and President Donald Trump, the CFTC has steadily shifted from an enforcement-based deterrence stance to one of regulation of key cryptocurrency market segments.
Earlier this year, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) jointly shown A new classification for crypto assets, and the SEC is preparing a wide range of tokenization rules, while Paxos has just received approval to liquidate US stocks on blockchain rails.
