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Kraken has switched on perpetual futures trading for eligible U.S. customers, delivering one of crypto’s most widely used derivatives products through a domestically regulated venue for the first time at meaningful scale. The launch, announced Monday via the Kraken blog, marks a turning point in a years-long effort to bring the offshore perps market back onshore.
What Are Perpetual Futures — and Why Do They Matter?
Perpetual futures, universally known in the industry as “perps,” are derivative contracts that let traders take leveraged long or short positions on assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH) without actually owning them. Unlike traditional futures, positions can remain open indefinitely as long as margin requirements are met. The mechanism that keeps the contract price anchored to the underlying asset is a funding rate: every eight hours, a payment is exchanged between long and short position holders depending on whether the perpetual price is trading above or below spot.
The product’s flexibility has made it the engine of global crypto trading. Industry data shows perpetual contracts accounted for $61.7 trillion in trading volume during 2025, making up the majority of activity across the sector. For years, nearly all of that volume flowed through offshore exchanges beyond U.S. regulatory reach, leaving American traders with limited compliant options.
The Bitnomial Backbone
The launch rests on Bitnomial, which holds the full stack of U.S. derivatives licenses — exchange, clearinghouse, and brokerage. Payward closed the Bitnomial acquisition in May 2026, one year after completing its purchase of NinjaTrader in May 2025. Those two acquisitions gave Kraken the regulated infrastructure needed to offer perpetuals within a domestic venue.
The Bitnomial deal is valued at up to $550 million, with its regulatory footprint seen as a key strategic factor. Perps on Kraken Pro are offered through NinjaTrader Clearing, LLC — now operating as Kraken Derivatives US — which is registered with the CFTC as a Futures Commission Merchant.
Perpetual contracts sit in the same futures wallet as Kraken’s existing CME-listed products, so traders can manage both types of positions with the same funds. Payward and Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi said the goal was straightforward: “Spot, margin, futures, and now perpetuals all live in the same account at Kraken.”
US perpetual futures are live on Kraken Pro
A Shifting Regulatory Landscape
The launch did not happen in a vacuum. In May 2026, the CFTC approved Kalshi’s Bitcoin perpetual contract and issued guidance that also cleared a path for Coinbase to connect U.S. customers to global options and perpetual markets. Kalshi’s own perps debut earlier this month generated more than $1 billion in volume within a week, signaling strong pent-up domestic demand.
Late Friday, the CFTC went a step further, issuing a no-action letter that allows regulated exchanges to convert expiring futures contracts into true perpetuals, provided they meet customer protection conditions. That letter is set to expire at the end of June, making the timing of Kraken’s rollout particularly well-placed.
CFTC Chair Mike Selig also moved this week to address skepticism about whether perps are legally permissible under the Commodity Exchange Act. Selig rejected the claim that perpetual futures conflict with the Commodity Exchange Act because they do not expire, arguing that neither the Act nor the agency’s regulations explicitly define “futures contract” or require a fixed expiration or delivery date.
A Shifting Regulatory Landscape
What’s Available at Launch
At launch, contracts cover major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, Cardano, Chainlink, Dogecoin, Litecoin, and Avalanche. Kraken said it plans to expand both the range of contracts and collateral options over time.
Darius Tabatabai, Head of Kraken Pro, said the integrated setup changes how U.S. clients can build and manage positions: “Perpetuals, spot, margin and CME-listed futures now sit on one interface.” He credited Bitnomial’s regulatory infrastructure for enabling the rapid rollout.
Who Comes Next?
Kraken’s head of derivatives John Palmer suggested the adoption curve could mirror what happened with spot Bitcoin ETFs — sophisticated traders and proprietary desks entering first, followed by investment advisers and asset managers once they complete compliance reviews.
The launch marks one of the first opportunities for eligible U.S. traders to access perpetual futures through a CFTC-regulated venue, a market that has historically been dominated by offshore exchanges. Platforms like Hyperliquid have built substantial followings by serving the professional trader segment that found no regulated domestic alternative. That dynamic may now begin to shift.
For U.S. crypto traders, the calculus is simple: a product that drove more than $60 trillion in global volume last year can now be accessed without routing capital offshore, without counterparty risk on an unregulated venue, and — critically — within a single account that already holds their spot and futures positions.
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