Kraken launches CFTC-approved perpetual futures for US traders via Bitnomial, covering nine cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ether. The move follows regulatory guidance from the CFTC and Kalshi's $1B first-week volume.
Kraken has started offering perpetual futures contracts to qualified US traders through its Kraken Pro platform. The contracts are cleared and executed via Bitnomial, a CFTC-regulated derivatives exchange that Payward, Kraken's parent company, acquired in April 2026.
The initial lineup covers nine cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, XRP, Cardano, Chainlink, Dogecoin, Litecoin, and Avalanche. Traders can hold positions indefinitely as long as they meet margin requirements, and they manage these derivatives alongside spot holdings, margin positions, and CME futures in a single account.
Perpetual futures generated more than $60 trillion in global trading volume in 2025, Kraken said, with the vast majority of that activity happening on offshore exchanges outside US oversight.
The launch follows a string of regulatory moves by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. In May 2026, the CFTC approved Kalshi's Bitcoin perpetual product and issued guidance that let Coinbase give US traders access to international perpetual and options venues. Kalshi recorded over $1 billion in volume in its first week.
Late Friday, the CFTC released a no-action letter allowing regulated exchanges to drop expiration requirements from futures contracts designed as perpetuals. Exchanges must meet investor-protection conditions, including notifying traders with open positions and giving them a chance to close out. The relief runs through the end of June 2026.
CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said in January the agency would use its existing authority to enable perpetuals trading, arguing that years of regulatory uncertainty had pushed activity offshore. At the Milken Institute's Future of Finance conference, he said the CFTC was building a permanent regulatory framework for US perpetuals.
Kraken has been expanding its derivatives business steadily. It bought NinjaTrader in May 2025, closed the Bitnomial deal a year later, added CME-listed crypto futures in July 2025, and rolled out margin trading for US clients in early June 2026.
John Palmer, Kraken's head of derivatives, said adoption may follow the pattern seen with spot Bitcoin ETFs: institutional trading firms first, then investment advisers and portfolio managers after their compliance reviews.
Kraken said it plans to add more contracts and accept additional collateral types in future releases.
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