Kraken started offering perpetual futures to US traders this week, using a venue regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The move comes after the exchange acquired Bitnomial, a CFTC-registered derivatives firm, and reflects a broader industry shift to bring crypto derivatives trading under US oversight.
Why the CFTC route
By launching through a regulated futures commission merchant, Kraken sidesteps some of the legal uncertainty that has dogged crypto derivatives offered by offshore platforms. The CFTC has enforcement authority over retail commodity futures, and Kraken's new product clears that bar. The acquisition of Bitnomial gave Kraken the regulatory infrastructure it needed to offer perpetuals to US customers without creating a new compliance framework from scratch.
What perpetuals mean for US users
Perpetual futures — contracts with no expiry date that use funding rates to track spot prices — are the dominant derivatives product in crypto globally, but most US retail traders have had to access them through offshore exchanges or not at all. Kraken's offering gives US customers a domestic alternative. The exchange had previously offered futures through Kraken Futures, but that service was largely for non-US clients.
The onshore derivatives push
Kraken isn't alone. Other major exchanges have been pushing to bring crypto derivatives onshore, seeking CFTC or state-level approval to offer margined products in the US. The trend accelerated after the collapse of FTX in 2022, which exposed the risks of unregulated offshore platforms. Regulators have since signaled that they want crypto derivatives to be traded on registered venues with proper surveillance and capital requirements.
Kraken's perpetuals are now live for US traders who pass KYC checks. The exchange hasn't detailed which trading pairs it will support first, but it says it'll expand over time. The next question is whether the CFTC will scrutinize the product's leverage limits or margin rules — something it has done with other crypto derivatives in the past. For now, Kraken has a first-mover advantage in the regulated US perpetuals market.
