The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has given the green light for the first bitcoin perpetual futures contract to be traded on a regulated exchange in the United States. This landmark decision ends the dominance of offshore platforms in handling these high-volume derivative products.
According to a Friday announcement, an unnamed regulated exchange received approval to list and trade bitcoin perpetual futures. These contracts allow traders to bet on Bitcoin price movements indefinitely without an expiration date, using a funding rate mechanism to keep prices aligned with the spot market. CFTC Chairman Mike Selig stated that this move supports President Trump’s vision of making America the global crypto hub, calling perpetuals a key risk management tool for the crypto market.
The approval follows months of signals from CFTC leadership and comes just days after President Trump claimed on social media that his administration saved the crypto industry from previous policies that drove innovation offshore. Selig had previously acknowledged the need to reverse the trend of firms moving liquidity abroad.
Perpetual futures have been a staple of offshore exchanges since 2016, accounting for more than 70% of centralized trading volume. In 2025, the global trading volume for these contracts reached $61.7 trillion, a 29% increase from the prior year. The CFTC’s decision is expected to bring this activity back to U.S. soil.
While the CFTC did not name the approved exchange, prediction market platform Kalshi had announced plans to launch crypto perpetuals in April, securing a margin trading license from the regulator. The platform, which planned to offer up to 10x leverage on Bitcoin, scheduled a launch event in New York City for its product codenamed ‘Timeless’. Rival Polymarket also entered the space in April, intensifying competition.
The CFTC’s approach aims to limit excessive leverage and systemic risk, though the guidance is not formal rulemaking, meaning future leadership could reverse it. This shift is part of broader regulatory changes under the Trump administration, including joint SEC-CFTC efforts on crypto asset taxonomy and expanded tokenized collateral frameworks.