Kraken Secures Regulatory Green Light for U.S. Perpetual Futures

These perpetual contracts—which enable traders to speculate on asset prices without fixed expiration dates—will be listed on Bitnomial. Kraken’s parent company, Payward, recently acquired the CFTC-regulated exchange to facilitate this expansion. The move follows a broader push by the platform to diversify its U.S. ecosystem, including the launch of cryptocurrency futures last July and the introduction of CFTC-regulated spot margin trading earlier this month.

The regulatory path forward was solidified Friday when the CFTC issued a policy statement clarifying its stance on the asset class. The commission confirmed it will permit the listing of perpetual contracts as futures, provided they undergo a case-by-case application review. This regulatory shift prompted immediate movement in the sector, as prediction markets platform Kalshi simultaneously launched its own perpetual futures contracts, signaling a competitive race to capture domestic demand for leveraged crypto products.