CFTC Approves First US Bitcoin Perpetual Futures, Signals Shift to 24/7 Trading

U.S. regulators have granted the first approval for a regulated Bitcoin (BTC) ‘perpetual futures’ contract, a move that could begin pulling one of crypto’s biggest derivatives markets out of offshore venues and into U.S.-supervised exchanges.

In a report published after the decision, MEXC Ventures said the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) approved KalshiEX LLC’s listing of a Bitcoin perpetual futures product, BTCPERP, on May 29, 2026. The CFTC also issued guidance the same day signaling support for ‘24/7’ crypto derivatives trading—an acknowledgement, analysts say, that digital-asset markets do not conform to the trading-hour conventions built around agricultural and traditional financial futures.

The centerpiece is the product itself. A ‘perpetual futures’ contract has no expiry date, allowing traders to maintain exposure to Bitcoin’s price without owning spot BTC. Because there is no settlement date to anchor prices, perpetuals typically rely on a ‘funding fee’ mechanism to keep the contract price aligned with the spot market: when the perpetual trades at a premium, long positions pay shorts; when it trades at a discount, shorts pay longs. That design has made perpetuals the dominant crypto derivatives instrument globally, particularly on large offshore exchanges.

Until now, that activity has largely sat outside clear U.S. exchange frameworks. U.S. investors and institutions seeking perpetual exposure often relied on overseas platforms or indirect routes—an arrangement that has long raised questions about investor protections, surveillance standards, and regulatory reach. MEXC Ventures argued the Kalshi approval is less about a single new listing and more about the U.S. beginning to internalize a market structure that previously evolved offshore.

The CFTC’s decision indicates it concluded Kalshi’s BTCPERP meets requirements under the Commodity Exchange Act and the operational standards of a designated contract market (DCM). Market participants have interpreted the shift as an opening of the door for regulated crypto derivatives in the U.S., though not a blanket green light.

Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal called the move a historic industry first in a post on X. Coinbase also pointed to an additional development: it said the CFTC had issued a ‘no-action letter’ indicating that perpetual contracts offered by Deribit FZE—an affiliated offshore venue—could be treated as ‘foreign futures’ in a way that alleviates near-term enforcement risk. A no-action letter is a written assurance that a regulator does not intend to recommend enforcement action for specified conduct under defined conditions, and such letters can shape how U.S. firms connect offshore market infrastructure with domestic compliance expectations.

Still, the CFTC stressed that the Kalshi approval should not be read as automatic precedent for other perpetual listings. Future approvals, the agency indicated, will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, considering factors such as market design, the underlying asset’s characteristics, investor protections, and the exchange’s trade controls. In other words, Bitcoin perpetuals may have opened the first lane, but follow-on products are not guaranteed to move at the same pace.

The concurrent push toward ‘24/7’ trading could prove just as consequential. In its guidance, the CFTC recognized that crypto markets function continuously across borders, making it difficult to apply the same trading-hour assumptions used for regionally structured commodities or legacy financial futures. For Bitcoin and other crypto assets, price discovery is global and constant; the regulator’s willingness to accommodate that reality is viewed as a signal that U.S. derivatives policy is adapting to crypto’s market microstructure rather than forcing it into legacy molds.

Traditional finance is watching—and preparing. CME Group has disclosed plans for around-the-clock crypto futures trading and is awaiting CFTC review. If CME expands into 24/7 trading, some share of global perpetual and futures liquidity—currently concentrated on offshore exchanges—could begin migrating toward U.S.-regulated venues. For institutional investors with strict compliance mandates, the availability of supervised, domestic market access can matter as much as headline volume, potentially changing the ‘quality’ of liquidity and the mix of participants even before overall size meaningfully shifts.

The development also intersects with a broader debate over U.S. crypto oversight. The CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continue to divide responsibilities across commodities- and securities-like tokens, while lawmakers weigh the CLARITY Act, which would further define jurisdictional boundaries. Acting CFTC Chair Michael Selig has said perpetual futures, 24/7 trading, and the expansion of U.S. crypto market infrastructure are being treated as joint agenda items in coordination with the SEC—suggesting a coordinated effort to narrow regulatory gaps while bringing more of the market into formal frameworks.

Constraints remain. The CFTC is currently operating in an unusual posture, with Selig serving as the lone sitting commissioner rather than the agency’s typical five-member structure. Even with momentum, limited staffing and procedural bandwidth could slow reviews and rulemaking. There is also the practical question of whether regulated U.S. venues can attract liquidity away from entrenched offshore perpetual markets, where leverage terms, fee schedules, liquidation engines, and global customer networks are deeply optimized for high-frequency derivatives activity.

Even so, the first regulated U.S. pathway for Bitcoin perpetual futures is being treated as a turning point. For proponents, it signals that the U.S. is positioning itself not merely as an observer of offshore crypto derivatives, but as an emerging ‘rule-setter’ capable of reshaping where and how leverage-based crypto trading takes place. MEXC Ventures highlighted several catalysts to watch next: actual trading volumes in Kalshi’s BTCPERP, whether CME’s 24/7 crypto futures plan moves forward, the normalization of the CFTC’s commission structure, and legislative progress on the CLARITY Act.