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ARTICLE · 04 JUNE 2026

Perpetual Futures Come Onshore: The CFTC's New Regulatory Framework

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After years of regulatory ambiguity that pushed perpetual futures trading offshore, the CFTC has finally drawn a clear line in the sand and is encouraging the industry to step inside.

United StatesFinance and Banking
Daniel J. Davis
Daniel J. Davis
Carl E. Kennedy
Carl E. Kennedy
Matthew Kluchenek
Matthew Kluchenek
Robert Bourret
Robert Bourret
Alexander C. Kim
Alexander C. Kim
Alexa Warner
Alexa Warner
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After years of regulatory ambiguity that pushed perpetual futures trading offshore, the CFTC has finally drawn a clear line in the sand and is encouraging the industry to step inside.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or Commission) established the first affirmative US regulatory framework for crypto asset perpetual futures contracts (also known as "perpetuals" or "perps") through three coordinated actions taken on May 29. On that day, the Commission:

  1. approved a bitcoin perpetual futures contract for listing on a registered designated contract market (DCM) (Order);1
  2. issued a policy statement setting expectations for future perpetual contract submissions (Policy Statement);2 and

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