Perpetual Futures Arrive in US Market Amid CME Lawsuit
Perpetual futures, a financial product responsible for approximately 90% of global crypto derivatives activity and roughly 80% of all crypto trading, has finally arrived in the US market. The product allows traders to hold or adjust exposure at any hour without choosing a contract month, making it a highly leveraged instrument that can fold speculation, hedging, market-making inventory, and basis trades into a single instrument.
Coinbase was the first exchange to offer US perpetual-style futures on its CFTC-regulated derivatives exchange. However, this move has sparked controversy as CME sued the CFTC and Chairman Michael Selig in federal court, arguing that perpetuals meet the statutory definition of swaps under the Commodity Exchange Act, which would subject them to a far heavier regulatory regime.
The outcome of this legal battle will shape how far perpetual futures can spread in the US market. The commercial stakes are already high, with Kalshi having self-certified more than a dozen additional crypto perpetuals and trading in them reaching over $1 billion. The CFTC has moved to defend its turf on other fronts, suing Kentucky in late June over which authority governs contract markets.
Two different structures now have the same label in the US: Kalshi's BTCPERP is a genuine no-expiry perpetual, while Coinbase's contracts are structured as long-dated futures with five-year expirations and an hourly funding rate settled twice a day. The CFTC's June conversion route allows these substitutes to eventually drop their expiration and become the real thing.
The US market is building several perpetual markets at once: Kalshi lists true perps, while Coinbase runs perpetual-style futures on its domestic exchange and has opened a regulated channel for US clients to reach global perpetual and options liquidity through its Deribit affiliate. CME moved its dated crypto futures and options to 24/7 trading on May 29, closing the weekend gap that had separated it from spot markets.