Kalshi started trading America's first regulated Bitcoin perpetual futures this week, after winning CFTC approval on May 29. The contract, ticker BTCPERP, tracks the spot price of Bitcoin with no expiration date — a structure that's been wildly popular offshore but never offered on a US exchange under CFTC oversight. CEO Tarek Mansour called perpetuals 'the purest form of trading' and said the product will 'improve capital allocation and risk management for American businesses.'
The regulatory path
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission signed off on Kalshi's contract under Regulation 40.3, which allows self-certification for certain derivatives. CFTC Chairman Michael Selig, appointed by President Trump, telegraphed the move back in March 2026 when he said US-listed perpetual futures were coming 'in the next month or so.' That timeline held. Kalshi, valued at $22 billion after a May funding round, is the first exchange to make it happen.
How perpetuals work
Unlike standard futures that settle on a fixed date, perpetual futures use a funding rate mechanism that adjusts every eight hours. That fee keeps the contract price tethered to the spot market — if the futures price runs too high, longs pay shorts, and vice versa. Offshore perpetuals have dominated crypto trading for years. According to Reuters data, global perpetual futures volume hit $61.7 trillion in 2025, up 29% from the prior year. An unnamed source in the article put the number even higher, at $92.9 trillion. Either way, it's a massive market that's been entirely abroad — until now.
The competition is coming
Kalshi isn't going to have the field to itself for long. Kraken said it would list CFTC-regulated perps within 30 days of Kalshi's approval. Robinhood and Gemini have also signaled they plan to enter. Kalshi itself intends to expand to more than a dozen cryptocurrencies, pending regulatory reviews. One thing that's off the table: agricultural commodities. The exchange's plans explicitly exclude them.
The timing matters. US crypto firms have been pushing for regulated perps for years, arguing that forcing American traders to use offshore platforms — where leverage can run 100x — creates risk without oversight. Kalshi's contract brings the product onshore, where margin and reporting rules apply. Whether retail traders actually prefer the tighter constraints of a CFTC-regulated product over the wild-west of offshore exchanges is the open question. The first week of trading should offer some early signals.
