US regulators finally green-light crypto perpetual futures — long Coinbase as the first-mover winner
The main U.S. derivatives regulator just gave the green light for crypto perpetual futures contracts to be offered on American platforms. Coinbase and Kalshi are among the first to move forward, bringing a hugely popular trading product that until now mostly existed on offshore exchanges onto U.S. soil.
Idea
Perpetual futures are the most heavily traded crypto product in the world — they account for more volume than regular spot buying and selling combined. Until now, almost all of that trading happened on offshore exchanges like Binance because U.S. regulators hadn't allowed it. The CFTC changing that rule is a direct revenue opportunity for Coinbase, which is already named as a platform moving forward to offer these products. More trading volume on Coinbase means more fee income. For Bitcoin itself, bringing perps onshore could draw fresh institutional money into crypto since U.S.-based funds often can't trade on unregulated offshore venues. This is a structural change that plays out over weeks and months, not just a single day's headline.