CFTC Approves First US-Regulated Bitcoin Perpetual Futures

Crypto Insight Summary: The CFTC approved the first bitcoin perpetual futures contract on a registered U.S. exchange, issuing an Order for Approval to KalshiEX, the designated contract market operated by prediction-market company Kalshi, for its BTCPERP contract. Alongside this, the agency released a policy statement establishing a case-by-case review process for future perpetuals, though it is not a formal rule and could be revised by future leadership. CFTC Chairman Mike Selig described the move as "historic action" that brings a major segment of crypto derivatives within the U.S. regulatory framework, crediting President Trump with reversing a prior "decelerationist" enforcement approach. In a separate action, the CFTC's Market Participants Division granted no-action relief to Coinbase Financial Markets, allowing U.S. customers to access perpetuals on Coinbase's offshore Deribit affiliate—which Coinbase acquired for $2.9 billion—and to post crypto and stablecoins, including bitcoin and ether, as margin collateral. Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal called it a "massive first for the industry," distinguishing it from the longer-dated perpetual-style futures Coinbase and others began listing in 2025 via self-certification. The dual actions create an onshore path for a product previously driven to offshore venues like Binance, Bybit, and OKX, and raise competitive stakes for decentralized and offshore platforms that have dominated the market. Hyperliquid, the largest perpetual futures DEX, holds roughly $7–9 billion in open interest and processed about $173 billion in perpetual volume over the past 30 days, according to DefiLlama, yet decentralized perps account for only about a tenth of total perpetuals volume per CoinGeck Crypto Insight Analysis: Direction: Bullish BTC / Bullish COIN Impact: Major Impact Horizon: Mid-term (1-8 weeks) Reasoning: Regulatory approval for BTC perpetuals and Coinbase's access to Deribit will drive institutional adoption and liquidity.