Kraken Brings CFTC-Regulated Perpetual Futures to American Customers

Kraken now provides perpetual futures regulated by the CFTC to customers in the United States via its Kraken Pro platform. The introduction moves a leading crypto trading instrument into the domestic market after prolonged concentration of activity on overseas platforms.

Kraken lists perpetual futures on its acquired Bitnomial exchange. Contracts trade on Bitnomial, the CFTC-regulated venue purchased earlier this year by parent company Payward. Users reach these offerings, spot trading, margin trading and CME-listed crypto futures from one unified dashboard, the firm noted in its Monday blog post.

Often known as perps, perpetual futures let participants hold long or short exposure to assets like bitcoin without taking ownership and without any settlement deadline. Positions stay open for any length of time provided margin rules stay satisfied.

Perpetual futures volume exceeded $60 trillion globally in 2025. Kraken reports that yearly volume for these contracts topped $60 trillion in 2025, with the overwhelming share occurring outside the United States. Offshore venues including the rapidly expanding Hyperliquid have drawn professional participants looking for high liquidity and nonstop leveraged trading.

Prediction market Kalshi, which added perps only weeks ago, recorded more than $1 billion in volume inside its first seven days.

The debut follows recent CFTC guidance and Kraken acquisitions. The step arrives after the agency released new guidance opening the door for regulated venues to list perpetual futures. In May the CFTC greenlit Kalshi’s bitcoin perpetual contracts and supplied clarity that also enabled Coinbase to link American clients to offshore options and perpetual markets.

Kraken prepared for the rollout with multiple derivatives acquisitions and feature rollouts. It bought NinjaTrader in May 2025 and Bitnomial twelve months afterward to secure compliant futures infrastructure, then introduced CME-listed crypto futures plus margin trading for domestic users.

Initial contracts cover bitcoin, ether, solana and seven other major cryptocurrencies. Launch contracts span BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, ADA, LINK, DOGE, LTC and AVAX. The exchange intends to broaden both the suite of available contracts and acceptable collateral over time.

Kraken’s head of derivatives John Palmer told CoinDesk last week that adoption may mirror the trajectory of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, with sophisticated traders entering first before investment advisers and asset managers follow after completing internal reviews.