Kalshi is preparing to bring crypto perpetual futures to U.S. traders, making it the first company set to offer the product under Commodity Futures Trading Commission oversight. The move comes as federal regulators put in place a domestic framework for a category of crypto derivatives that has historically been concentrated on offshore platforms.
Perpetual futures are finally coming to America.
Trade on future asset prices with leverage in a regulated, institutional-grade environment.
Only on Kalshi. pic.twitter.com/B3apmh0bDn
— Kalshi (@Kalshi) May 29, 2026
The New York-based exchange said investors in the United States will soon be able to trade crypto perpetual futures through its platform. That announcement follows a May 29 CFTC order approving Kalshi’s bitcoin-linked perpetual futures contract, along with a policy statement explaining how similar products will be supervised going forward.
Perpetual futures, often called perpetual contracts or “perps,” differ from traditional futures because they do not expire. Instead of relying on a settlement date, they use a recurring funding-rate mechanism intended to keep contract prices aligned with the underlying asset’s spot market.
Kalshi introduces new framework for crypto perpetual futures
According to the CFTC, perpetual contracts have become one of the most heavily traded forms of crypto derivatives worldwide. Regulatory uncertainty in the United States, however, pushed much of that activity to offshore venues rather than federally regulated exchanges.
For Kalshi, the launch is said to signal an expansion beyond the event contracts that made the company a leading name in prediction markets. The company has increasingly positioned itself as a wider derivatives exchange rather than a platform focused only on forecasting events.
Federal regulators said they spent roughly the past year building what they consider a workable domestic structure for perpetual contracts. This included a public comment process and consideration of recommendations from the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets, which urged greater clarity around innovative financial products.
The agency added that perpetual contracts function differently from traditional futures. Rather than converging at expiration, they depend on funding payments between long and short traders. When a contract trades above the spot market, long positions pay shorts. If it trades below spot, the payment flow reverses.
The CFTC said that design raises “novel and complex questions” involving market structure, customer protection, operational resilience and exchange compliance obligations. Regulators noted that perpetual contracts require reliable reference pricing at every funding interval for as long as the contract remains active.
The approval arrives as Kalshi continues to test regulatory boundaries in other areas. The company has been involved in disputes over prediction markets, including cases in which the CFTC has defended federal oversight against state gambling-related challenges. Kalshi has also pursued additional event-based products, including a filing tied to contracts involving college athletes.
While approving Kalshi’s bitcoin-linked contract, regulators said perpetual contracts connected to other asset classes will generally require separate review. Agricultural commodities, precious metals, equities and narrow-based stock indexes could each present different regulatory concerns.
“This marks Kalshi’s evolution from prediction market leader to next-gen derivatives exchange,” Chief Executive Tarek Mansour said in announcing the launch.
Regulators said clear rules are essential if emerging financial products are to develop inside regulated U.S. markets instead of migrating overseas.
Featured image: Kalshi via press release
