CFTC Greenlights First Bitcoin Perpetual Futures Listing on a Regulated U.S. Exchange

U.S. crypto companies now have a clearer route to offering perpetual futures, after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Friday it has approved a regulated exchange to list and trade bitcoin perpetual contracts. Perpetuals, commonly called "perps," are derivatives that let traders bet on future price moves in a crypto asset without an expiration date, allowing positions to remain open indefinitely. The CFTC's approval marks the first time a registered U.S. platform has been cleared to offer a "true" bitcoin perp, potentially opening domestic access to a product that has largely flourished outside the U.S. The agency did not name the exchange. The announcement arrives days after President Donald Trump referenced perpetuals in a social media post, arguing that the prior administration's regulators "nearly DESTROYED the American Crypto Industry by driving Bitcoin, Crypto Perpetuals, and INNOVATION offshore, but 'TRUMP' SAVED IT." CFTC Chairman Mike Selig said perpetual contracts are "a foundational risk management and price discovery tool in the global crypto asset markets." In a Friday opinion piece published by CoinDesk, Selig wrote that bringing true perpetuals to the U.S. is a major step toward Trump's goal of positioning the country as the world's crypto hub, and said the CFTC is providing "a workable framework for true crypto asset perpetual contracts." Perps are often traded with leverage, which can magnify gains from small moves in assets such as bitcoin (BTC $73,565.90) and Ethereum's ether (ETH). The same leverage can quickly amplify losses, making the product highly volatile. Selig said in March he was working to reverse damage from the prior administration that "drove a lot of these firms and the liquidity offshore." U.S. crypto-native exchanges under CFTC oversight include Coinbase, Bitnomial (recently acquired by Kraken) and Gemini, along with prediction-market firms such as Kalshi and Polymarket. Selig said Friday the agency's approach to perps would aim to "limit excessive leverage, volatility and systemic risk." Recent market events have underscored other risks. This week, Hyperliquid's SPACEXUSDH perpetual contract tied to SpaceX's market valuation saw a flash crash that caught many traders off guard and erased about $1.5 million in notional value within 30 minutes, after a single oversized position strained thin liquidity. The CFTC's updated posture does not yet amount to a formal rule. The CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission have been issuing statements, so-called no-action letters, approvals and guidance to clarify their current approach to the sector. Without formal rulemaking or new legislation, such policy direction can be reversed by future agency leadership. In March, the CFTC and SEC issued guidance that, for the first time, outlined their definitions for classifying crypto assets. The framework introduced categories intended to determine which regulator oversees a given asset and described standards for how a crypto security might eventually move out of that classification as a project matures. The SEC is also preparing a broad crypto policy initiative designed to support tokenized securities by offering temporary exemptions from registration for certain digital asset innovations. The effort, a flagship project of SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, is positioned as an interim step to encourage activity while the industry awaits more durable legislation from Congress. Read more: CFTC chief Selig to clear path for U.S. perpetual futures in coming weeks