Perpetual Bitcoin Futures Are Now Legal on a Regulated U.S. Exchange — a Derivative That Has Only Existed Offshore
On May 29, the CFTC approved KalshiEX's BTCPERP contract under Section 5c(c)(4) of the Commodity Exchange Act, making KalshiEX the first designated contract market in the United States to list a perpetual futures product referencing Bitcoin's spot price. The contract trades in units of one ten-thousandth of a bitcoin, settles in cash, runs 24 hours a day seven days a week, and carries no expiration date — the structural feature that distinguishes perpetuals from quarterly futures and has made them the dominant derivative instrument on offshore venues. The Commission determined BTCPERP complies with all applicable Core Principles for designated contract markets; CFTC Chairman Mike Selig called the approval a "major step forward" for U.S. crypto policy. Perpetual futures have accounted for the majority of Bitcoin's global trading volume for years but operated exclusively on offshore, largely unregulated exchanges — leaving U.S. participants without regulated domestic access. Kalshi stated its intention to expand crypto perpetuals to more than a dozen digital currencies, subject to further regulatory review.
The approval moves a derivative that drives the majority of Bitcoin's global notional volume — long dominated by Binance, Bybit, and OKX — onto a venue subject to U.S. federal oversight for the first time.
