Kraken announced its plans to launch U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)-regulated perpetual futures contracts within the next month, shortly after receiving approval from the CFTC. The exchange revealed that once the contracts gain approval, they will be listed on Bitnomial Exchange, a recently acquired crypto derivatives platform under Kraken’s parent company, Payward.
In April, Payward disclosed its acquisition of Bitnomial for up to $550 million, intending to equip Kraken Pro customers with access to Bitnomial’s offerings. However, as of Sunday morning, no specific filing for a Bitcoin (BTC) perpetual contract was available among Bitnomial’s recent submissions to the CFTC. Kraken’s announcement highlighted plans to bring trading activities onshore through a regulated venue, stating that U.S. clients could soon trade perpetual futures on Kraken Pro.
Requests for additional information regarding the missing filing were sent to Kraken’s executives and Bitnomial’s chief regulatory officer, but responses were not immediately forthcoming. It’s worth noting that companies often seek confidential treatment for their applications, as demonstrated by KalshiEX, which received CFTC approval for a BTC perpetual futures contract on Friday after initially requesting confidentiality for its filing.
In the competitive landscape of regulated cryptocurrency derivatives, other companies are also vying for a lead. Shortly after the CFTC’s approval for BTC perpetual contracts, Coinbase Financial Markets rapidly moved to offer U.S. institutional clients access to global crypto options and perpetual futures through Deribit, a regulated futures commission merchant it acquired in August 2025. Deribit stands as the largest crypto options exchange by open interest.
Historically, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and CFTC have indicated their intention to explore opportunities to bring perpetual futures trading onshore, as these contracts have predominantly operated in offshore markets due to regulatory constraints. CFTC chair Michael Selig emphasized that the presence of crypto asset perpetual contracts was never in question; instead, the focus was on having them exist under U.S. regulatory frameworks.
In conjunction with these developments, CFTC staff recently released guidance regarding continuous trading, clearing, and settlement, noting that crypto asset derivatives may be particularly well-suited for round-the-clock trading markets. This shift signals a significant evolution in the regulatory landscape surrounding cryptocurrency derivatives in the U.S., and the race among exchanges to establish themselves in this new market continues to heat up.
