TL;DR:
- Main actors: Polymarket and Kalshi seek to expand their business model by integrating leveraged perpetual futures contracts.
- Available assets: The offering will include cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, commodities (gold/silver), and high-profile tech stocks like Nvidia and Coinbase.
- Market context: The move responds to the success of platforms like Hyperliquid, which recorded a derivatives volume of $148 billion in the last month.
The leaders in prediction markets, Polymarket and Kalshi, announced their plans to integrate perpetuals trading into their platforms. With this expansion, both seek to transform betting sites into complex financial centers.
We price the future.
Now you can lever it.
Perps are coming to Polymarket.
Sign up for early access š pic.twitter.com/j3PRHhxv8N
— Polymarket (@Polymarket) April 21, 2026
In the case of Polymarket, its proposal includes leverage of at least 10x, allowing users to speculate on global financial assets without an expiration date. The volume in this sector has grown exponentially over the last year.
For its part, Kalshi plans to offer these services to the U.S. market, leveraging its regulatory status with the CFTC. This would grant local traders access to funding rates that operate 24 hours a day.
The announcement comes at a time of high competitiveness, where even traditional giants like CME Group are exploring event contracts. Diversification seems to be the key strategy to retain active users.
However, there are doubts as to whether Polymarket’s launch will be international only or if it will seek regulatory compliance in the United States. The legal environment for these derivatives remains under strict scrutiny.
The Impact of Decentralized Markets and Regulation
The influence of decentralized exchanges like Hyperliquid has been fundamental to this paradigm shift. These platforms have demonstrated that there is massive demand for the trading of outcomes and financial derivatives.
Meanwhile, companies like Coinbase and Gemini face legal challenges in states like New York over their betting offerings. This complicates the landscape for any firm wishing to mix predictions with traditional assets.
As these platforms evolve, the line between gambling and institutional investment becomes increasingly thin. The success of perpetuals will depend on the stability of their liquidity engines and margins.
The entry of these giants into derivatives marks a new era for digital finance. The ability to offer leverage on real assets positions prediction markets as direct competitors to traditional exchanges.
