Coinbase and Kalshi Back CFTC in Stock Perp Futures Lawsuit
Six companies, including Coinbase and Kalshi, have joined forces with the CFTC to defend the right to list perpetual futures on individual US stocks.
A coalition of six financial and crypto firms, led by Coinbase and prediction-market platform Kalshi, have filed in support of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in a legal battle over whether US exchanges should be permitted to list perpetual futures contracts tied to individual stocks. The case cuts to the heart of how American regulators draw jurisdictional lines in an era of rapidly converging traditional finance and digital asset markets.
Perpetual futures — derivative contracts with no expiration date that have become a staple of crypto trading — have never been formally cleared for trading on regulated US venues tied to single equities. The lawsuit represents a pivotal test of whether the CFTC has the authority to greenlight such instruments, or whether competing regulatory frameworks and statutory limits block that path entirely.
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The decision by Coinbase, one of the largest regulated crypto exchanges in the United States, to enter the dispute signals how much the company views expanded derivatives offerings as central to its long-term business strategy. Kalshi, known for pushing the boundaries of what qualifies as a legal prediction market, has similarly positioned itself at the frontier of CFTC-regulated contract innovation. Their joint participation alongside four other unnamed firms suggests a broader industry alignment behind the CFTC's interpretive stance.
The outcome could have outsized implications for retail and institutional investors alike. If US exchanges win the right to offer stock-linked perpetual futures, it would introduce a powerful new instrument into mainstream markets — one with deep liquidity potential but also the kind of leverage risk that regulators have historically treated with caution. The case may ultimately force a clearer statutory answer about where the CFTC's jurisdiction ends and other regulatory bodies' authority begins.
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