Three platforms — Coinbase, Kraken and Kalshi — have claimed to be the first in the US to launch crypto perpetual futures, widely known as “perps”, after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced a policy statement late on Friday allowing these instruments. Interestingly, the US allowed these instruments while the pan-European regulator is considering categorising them as contracts for differences (CFDs), which might place heavy restrictions on their offering.
Perps Market Is Already Massive. Is It Going to See More Demand?
The perps market is massive: trading volume in these instruments reached $61.7 trillion in 2025, up 29 per cent from 2024, according to market data provider CryptoQuant. Kalshi, meanwhile, put offshore perps trading volume at over $90 trillion last year, up from $28 trillion in 2023.
Decentralised exchanges (DEXs) processed more than $1.2 trillion in perpetual futures each month by the end of 2025, with Hyperliquid maintaining a commanding presence among traders, according to Coinbase.
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Perps are derivatives structured similarly to regular futures. The primary difference between these contracts and a regular futures contract is that they do not have an expiration date. Their settlement, pricing and margin calculations are conducted on an ongoing basis, often multiple times a day.
These instruments are particularly used to offer derivatives on volatile cryptocurrencies.
BitMEX, which operates largely from its offshore base, popularised crypto perps during the 2017–18 crypto boom, allowing traders to speculate on Bitcoin's price against the US dollar with up to 100x leverage. The goal was to eliminate traditional Bitcoin futures contracts' roll positions and repeated fees, which made leveraged speculation cumbersome.
The adoption of these 100x leveraged perps was massive. BitMEX's daily transaction volume crossed $1 billion in 2018.
The main advantage of perps is the elimination of roll positions, enabling traders to maintain uninterrupted market exposure.
In my first public remarks as @CFTC Chairman, I made clear that the agency would use the tools at its disposal to onshore crypto asset perpetuals. Today, the @CFTC delivered on that commitment.This morning, the @CFTC took historic action to permit the listing of a true bitcoin…
— Mike Selig (@ChairmanSelig) May 29, 2026
US Traders Found an Offshore Workaround
Although the US is the largest single market in the trading industry, including crypto, traders there had limited regulated access to crypto perps, as most activity within this niche happened offshore. The CFTC’s recent move is going to change that.
“US traders have been waiting for a regulated, domestic way to trade the product that defines global crypto derivatives markets,” said John Palmer, Global Head of Derivatives at Kraken, which is going to offer “perpetuals, spot, margin and CME-listed futures” all within a single interface.
Coinbase, meanwhile, also highlighted that “some US institutional customers have had to establish offshore entities just to access these markets, adding counterparty exposure and duplicative infrastructure costs.” Now, the US-based perps offering “resolves this” as it is going to offer access to global crypto perps and options on futures to US clients without offshore workarounds.
Regulated crypto options and perps are coming to @Coinbase for US customers.A massive first for the industry, thanks to the @CFTC and Chairman @MichaelSelig’s commitment to US innovation.We’re bringing proven global products under American regulation which is exactly how we… https://t.co/uU1UIKkVX6
— Paul Grewal (@iampaulgrewal) May 29, 2026
The entry of Kalshi into the crypto perps space, however, is the most notable one, as the platform is otherwise known for its event contract offerings.
"This marks Kalshi’s evolution from prediction market leader to next-generation derivatives exchange," said Tarek Mansour, CEO of Kalshi.
“If a prediction market is a photograph of what the world thinks right now, a perpetual is a film — continuously updated, never-ending, always present.”
The CFTC, however, in its policy statement, clarified that it is mandating a case-by-case regulatory review process for any new perpetual products referencing assets beyond current approved listings.
The US regulator's stance on crypto instruments, including perps, changed after the Trump administration took over the White House. Several of its officials, including its current Chair, Michael Selig, have already indicated positive decisions on perps.
Is Europe Excessive with Its Regulations?
While offshore perp businesses are booming, many established players, including Coinbase and Kraken, have launched these instruments in the European Union under MiFID licences. Both firms have established bases in Cyprus by acquiring legacy CFD platforms.
While several crypto platforms started to roll out perps in the bloc, the pan-European regulator dropped a bombshell earlier this year, saying these perps might fall under the classification of CFD instruments.
“This means that those derivatives that meet the definition of a CFD would be subject to measures including leverage limits, a mandatory risk warning, margin close-out and negative balance protection, and the prohibition of monetary and non-monetary benefits,” the European Securities and Markets Authority noted in its public statement.
Read more: 10x Down to 2x: Has Europe Killed Crypto Perps Even before It Started?
Perps usually offer massive leverage offshore, but in Europe, it is limited to 10x. If these instruments are classified as CFDs, the leverage level would come down to 2x.
In the US, leverage levels for perps can reach 50x.
Interestingly, the regulator of a market where CFDs cannot be offered to retail customers is now allowing crypto perps, while the region where the modern CFD trading industry was born and thrived under clear regulations is limiting exposure to crypto perps. Is this a regulatory oversight by one regulator or overreach by another?
This article was written by Arnab Shome at www.financemagnates.com.
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