Kraken said late Friday that it expected to launch CFTC-regulated perpetual futures contracts in the US within the next 30 days, hours after the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission approves the instruments.
The exchange said that once it receives approval, the contracts will be listed on Bitnomial Exchange, a CFTC-regulated exchange recently acquired by Kraken’s parent company, Payword.
Payword said on April 17 that it was acquiring crypto derivatives platform Bitnomial for $550 million, with the aim of giving Kraken Pro customers access to Bitnomial’s perpetual futures offering.
However, while Kraken’s announcement said a filing was submitted on Friday, as of Sunday morning no filing for a specific Bitcoin (BTC) perpetual exposure was found in Bitnomial’s most recent CFTC filing. “Today’s announcement accelerates plans to bring that activity onshore through a CFTC-regulated venue,” the announcement said.
“US clients will soon be able to trade perpetual futures on @KrakenPro,” the company said in a social media post on Saturday.
Source: Kraken on x.com
Requests for more information on the filing sent to two Kraken executives and Bitnomial’s chief regulatory officer were not immediately responded to.
Certainly, companies often file requests for confidential treatment of their applications. KalshiEX, which on Friday received CFTC approval to trade BTC perpetual futures contracts, originally requested confidential treatment of that application in an undated letter to the CFTC.
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Perps race to gain lead in regulated US markets
Shortly after the CFTC approved BTC purp contracts on Friday morning, Coinbase Financial Markets was quickly out of the blocks to provide US institutional clients access to global crypto options and perpetual futures markets through Deribit, a regulated futures commission trader.
Deribit, which Coinbase acquired as part of its expansion into crypto derivatives in August 2025, is the largest crypto options exchange by open interest.
CFTC approval notice for BTC perpetual trading on Kalshi. Source: CFTC
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the CFTC said in September they would explore ways to bring sustainable futures trading onshore. In a joint statement, the agencies said perpetual contracts are largely limited to offshore crypto markets due to regulatory and jurisdictional barriers.
“In my view, the question was not whether perpetual contracts for crypto assets would exist. Instead, the question was whether they would exist under US oversight, US standards and the rule of US law,” CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said on Friday.
Also on Friday, CFTC staff issued guidance on 24/7 trading, clearing and settlement, stating that crypto asset derivatives may be particularly suitable for markets that operate around the clock.
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