Crypto 'perps' finally coming to America — long Coinbase as it opens the floodgates
The top U.S. derivatives regulator just cleared the way for crypto perpetual futures contracts to trade on American exchanges for the first time. Coinbase and Kalshi are among the first platforms greenlit to offer these products, which have been hugely popular overseas but unavailable here.
Idea
Perpetual futures are the most-traded crypto product in the world — they account for the vast majority of global crypto volume — but until now Americans had to use offshore exchanges to access them. Bringing perps onshore to regulated, trusted platforms like Coinbase is like opening a firehose of new trading revenue. Coinbase gets to capture fees on a product category that's been entirely out of its reach. When major regulatory barriers fall and a company is first in line to benefit, the stock tends to re-rate higher as analysts model the new revenue stream. The timing is especially good because Bitcoin ETF outflows suggest hot money is rotating from passive ETF exposure back toward active trading — exactly what perpetual futures facilitate.