Kraken Gives US Clients Perpetual Futures via CFTC-Licensed Arm

Kraken made perpetual futures available to eligible U.S. clients Monday, routing the product through its CFTC-licensed derivatives arm, Bitnomial. Traders on Kraken Pro can now trade perps alongside spot and margin positions using one collateral pool.

Perpetual futures are derivative contracts with no expiration date. They avoid the roll costs of traditional futures. That structure has made perps the dominant crypto derivatives vehicle – Kraken said global perpetuals volume exceeded $60 trillion in 2025.

U.S. traders have largely missed that market. Offshore platforms like Binance and Bybit captured the liquidity while American venues offered only dated futures or limited access. Kraken is trying to close the gap with a regulated onshore structure.

Bitnomial holds CFTC licenses covering exchange and clearing operations. Payward, Kraken's parent company, acquired Bitnomial earlier this year. The regulatory stack lets Kraken offer perps inside the CFTC's perimeter, a setup most offshore competitors lack.

Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Payward and Kraken, said the goal is to consolidate the trading stack. "Spot, margin, futures and now perpetuals all live in the same account at Kraken," Sethi said. He argued that traders are better off on one trusted venue than "a dozen they have to manage."

John Palmer, Kraken's global head of derivatives, described the launch as a fix for fragmented workflows. "The friction was having perpetuals on one venue and the rest of the book on another," Palmer said.

Mechanically, perps use a funding rate to keep the contract price tethered to the spot price. Longs pay shorts when the perp trades above spot; shorts pay longs when it trades below. That funding mechanism creates persistent costs for directional positions, especially during trending markets.

Leverage magnifies both gains and losses. A 10x position on bitcoin requires only a 10% adverse move to wipe out margin. Kraken's launch does not change that arithmetic. It places the product inside a regulated U.S. venue with a single collateral pool.

The CFTC oversight introduces compliance requirements that offshore venues do not face. Eligible clients must pass KYC checks and meet suitability standards. Position limits and reporting may apply. The trade-off is a lower risk of exchange failure or regulatory enforcement action.

Bitcoin Vault, a separate custody product launched Wednesday, offers long-term holders up to 2.5% annual percentage yield. That product is not related to the perpetuals rollout.

Perpetual futures are available now to eligible U.S. clients on Kraken Pro. Eligibility and product access vary by jurisdiction.