Coinbase has become the first U.S. exchange permitted to offer customers access to the global crypto perpetual futures market, after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission granted listing approval on Friday.
The move brings perpetual futures — derivatives with no expiration date that allow traders to hold leveraged positions indefinitely — out of a regulatory gray area and into a formal onshore framework for the first time.
What the CFTC approved
Coinbase will connect U.S. customers to the global crypto perps market through Deribit, the offshore options exchange it acquired for $2.9 billion last year.
A source familiar with the matter said Coinbase has not yet decided which assets it will enable for perps trading, but the CFTC’s approval covers all “digital commodity” perpetual futures on Deribit — including markets for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Dogecoin, and the TRUMP meme coin.
Separately, prediction market Kalshi also received CFTC approval to create its own Bitcoin perpetual futures — the first such American-born product of its kind.
Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour said:
“Onshore, safe, and regulated perps will improve capital allocation and risk management for countless American businesses.”
A massive and risky market
Perpetual futures trading volume reached $61.7 trillion in 2025, up 29% from 2024, according to CryptoQuant data.
The contracts allow leverage of up to 50-to-1, meaning even small price moves can wipe out a position entirely.
Last fall, rapid price swings on a single afternoon liquidated $19 billion worth of crypto positions within minutes, largely due to the scale of leverage involved.
The CFTC also issued a policy statement Friday mandating a case-by-case review for any new perpetual products referencing assets beyond current approved listings.
Other exchanges expected to follow
Though Coinbase is first, other U.S. exchanges are widely expected to follow using the guidelines laid out in the CFTC’s no-action letter as a template.
