Overview
- CFTC Chair Michael Selig publicly defended regulated cryptocurrency perpetual futures while saying their 24/7, no‑expiry structure makes them a poor fit for agricultural markets that depend on physical delivery.
- The agency has allowed Bitcoin perpetuals to go live through orders and no‑action relief, enabling Kalshi’s launch and a Coinbase routing position and prompting Kraken to offer perps via its CFTC‑regulated Bitnomial platform.
- Perpetual contracts have generated rapid trading volumes reported in the billions, which led exchanges such as CBOE to consider converting existing Bitcoin and Ether futures into perpetual formats.
- CME Group has sued the CFTC in federal court, arguing the agency’s approvals broke the Commodity Exchange Act and creating legal uncertainty over which rules apply to perpetuals.
- A joint 60‑day CFTC‑SEC consultation is examining whether perpetuals are swaps or futures, a decision that would trigger mandatory clearing, dealer registration, and tougher reporting and margin rules and could raise costs or push trading offshore.