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For years, perpetual futures, the most popular trading instrument in crypto, existed in a regulatory no-man’s-land. American traders either pretended they lived somewhere else or simply sat on the sidelines while offshore exchanges processed trillions in volume. That era appears to be ending.
On May 29, the CFTC approved Kalshi’s BTCPERP contract, making it the first true Bitcoin-referenced perpetual futures product listed on a regulated US designated contract market. The response was immediate: trading volume topped $100 million in the first 24 hours and surpassed $1 billion within the opening week.
The $90 trillion elephant in the room
In 2025, offshore perpetual futures platforms processed over $90 trillion in annual volume. To put that in perspective, that figure more than tripled from $28 trillion just two years earlier in 2023. All of that activity happened outside US regulatory oversight, on platforms like Binance, Bybit, and OKX.
CFTC Chairman Mike Selig framed the approval as “a major step towards making America the crypto capital of the world.”
Kalshi’s pivot from predictions to derivatives
Kalshi built its name as a prediction market platform, letting users bet on everything from Federal Reserve rate decisions to Oscar winners. Moving into perpetual futures is a significant strategic pivot, one that puts the company in direct competition with established crypto exchanges.
Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour has emphasized the company’s commitment to compliance and institutional-grade infrastructure. And the early numbers suggest institutions were waiting for exactly this kind of product. Breaking $1 billion in volume during a launch week is not retail-driven activity alone.
The company isn’t stopping at Bitcoin either. Filings from early June indicate plans to expand the perpetual futures lineup, including a DOGEPERP product proposal.
Coinbase gets its own lane
The CFTC didn’t just hand Kalshi a win on May 29. The agency also issued a no-action letter to Coinbase, permitting the exchange to route US customers to global perpetual futures through its Bermuda-based affiliate.
This is a different approach to the same problem. Where Kalshi is building an onshore product from scratch, Coinbase is getting regulatory permission to serve as a bridge to offshore markets.
What this means for investors
Look, $90 trillion in offshore volume isn’t going to migrate to US exchanges next quarter. But even capturing a single-digit percentage of that flow would represent a massive new revenue stream for platforms like Kalshi and Coinbase. The first week’s $1 billion in volume on BTCPERP alone hints at the demand that’s been bottled up.
The CFTC is moving faster than anyone expected on crypto derivatives. The same agency just approved perpetual futures and a no-action letter for offshore routing on the same day.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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