CFTC Prepares to Allow Perpetual Crypto Futures Within Weeks

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) plans to allow perpetual futures contracts for cryptocurrencies within weeks, Bloomberg reported Tuesday (March 3).

The CFTC is doing so to help the United States recapture liquidity that has moved to platforms in Asia, Europe and the Bahamas, CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said Tuesday at the Milken Institute’s Future of Finance conference, according to the report.

“We’re working toward getting perpetual futures — true perpetual futures, not long-dated contracts — here in the U.S. in the next month or so,” Selig said, per the report.

Selig shared a video clip from the conference in a Tuesday post on X and added: “The Biden administration drove crypto asset firms and liquidity offshore, including the perpetual futures markets. We’ve had perpetual futures in crypto assets for a very long time, but they’ve developed offshore. We’ve got to bring perpetual futures back to the US and are working towards getting them here soon.”

In another recent move, the CFTC said in December that listed spot cryptocurrency products would begin trading for the first time in U.S. federally regulated markets on CFTC-registered futures exchanges.

Caroline D. Pham, who was acting chairman of the CFTC at the time, said when announcing this move that it would provide Americans with the ability to use safe U.S. markets, rather than offshore exchanges, and would help the U.S. retake the lead in digital assets markets.

The CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said in September that CFTC- and SEC-registered exchanges are not prohibited from facilitating the trading of certain spot crypto asset products.

The regulators said in a joint statement that they were working together to provide market participants with trading venue choice and optionality.

When it was reported in October that President Donald Trump had chosen Selig as his nominee to head the CFTC, observers said Selig would likely oversee the implementation of new U.S. crypto policies.

White House Crypto Czar David Sacks confirmed in an Oct. 25 post on X that Selig would be the nominee and said: “Mike has not only been instrumental in driving forward the President’s crypto agenda as Chief Counsel of the SEC Crypto Task Force, he also brings deep experience in traditional commodities markets from his time working at the CFTC under former Chairman Chris Giancarlo.”