CFTC Approves Coinbase Listing of Bitcoin Perpetual Futures

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has approved Coinbase’s listing and trading of Bitcoin perpetual futures contracts.

CoinDesk and other outlets reported on May 29 that the CFTC cleared Coinbase to list and trade the contracts.

Coinbase Chief Executive Officer Brian Armstrong wrote on X that US users had long been shut out of the perpetual futures and options market, which accounts for about 80% of the global crypto market, but that "now that changes."

Coinbase is the first and only regulated platform that can connect US users to the global crypto options and perpetual futures market, Armstrong wrote. That includes Deribit options, where open interest tops $31 billion.

Perpetual futures are a type of derivative unique to the crypto market. Unlike futures contracts in traditional finance, they do not expire and track underlying assets such as Bitcoin through funding payments.

Perpetual futures account for more than 70% of total crypto trading volume. But regulatory uncertainty in the US has kept that market centered largely on offshore exchanges.

CFTC Commissioner Summer Mersinger wrote on X that the agency had taken a historic step by allowing a CFTC-registered exchange to list Bitcoin perpetual futures contracts.

The move opens a path for one of the most liquid segments of the crypto market to operate within the US regulatory framework. In a CoinDesk opinion piece published the same day, Mersinger said bringing perpetual futures contracts to the US was an important step toward carrying out President Donald Trump’s goal of making the country the world’s crypto capital.

The CFTC’s action marks a major turning point for the US crypto industry. It also broadens growth opportunities for US exchanges including Coinbase, Kraken and Gemini, which have yet to make a full-scale push into the perpetual futures market.

Still, the approval does not amount to formal rulemaking. The CFTC and the US Securities and Exchange Commission have recently issued guidance for the crypto industry, but some expect those measures could be reversed under a future administration.

Perpetual futures also carry investment risks because they involve leverage. Mersinger said excessive leverage, volatility and systemic risk would be restrained.