Overview
- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued an order approving Kalshi’s bitcoin perpetual contract on May 29, 2026, and Kalshi made the BTCPERP product live on its regulated venue in early June.
- The BTCPERP contract references bitcoin’s spot price and carries no expiration date, using a periodic funding-rate payment to keep the futures price aligned with the underlying market.
- The CFTC framed the approval as a case-by-case process and provided staff guidance and limited no-action relief that affects routing and access for firms such as Coinbase Financial Markets.
- Competitors including Kraken, Robinhood, and Gemini have announced plans to seek CFTC-regulated perpetual listings, and Kalshi says it will seek approvals for more crypto perps after its recent funding round.
- Bringing perpetuals onshore could widen regulated access for U.S. institutions and retail while creating operational demands on margining, continuous clearing, surveillance, and custody systems to handle always-on trading.