TL;DR:
- Kraken launched CFTC-regulated perpetual futures in the United States, available on Kraken Pro alongside spot, margin, and CME futures.
- The contracts are listed on Bitnomial, a CFTC-regulated exchange acquired by Payward, the parent company of the exchange.
- Nine assets are currently available: BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, ADA, LINK, DOGE, LTC, and AVAX. Plans for future expansion are in place.
Kraken launched CFTC-regulated perpetual futures for users in the United States, available now on its Pro platform. The new offering integrates these contracts alongside spot, margin, and CME-listed futures markets within a single interface, something that had not previously existed on any local, regulated platform.
Perpetual futures are derivative contracts that replicate the price of an underlying asset —such as Bitcoin or Ethereum— with no expiration date or settlement, allowing leveraged positions to be held indefinitely without the need to roll them over.
The market for these instruments surpassed $60 trillion in volume during 2025, cementing them as the most traded derivatives in the crypto ecosystem. However, U.S. traders had very limited access to them on regulated platforms, and activity was largely channeled toward offshore exchanges such as Binance or Bybit, with all the regulatory and counterparty risks that entails.
US perpetual futures are live on Kraken Pro.
16 contracts. No-expiration. Trade 24/7.
Go long, go short, hedge your holdings.
CFTC-regulated, end-to-end through Kraken.
The wait is over. https://t.co/49yfJXr9Ie pic.twitter.com/jktJZjbnNA
— Kraken Pro (@krakenpro) June 15, 2026
A Market on the Path to Regulation
The launch was made possible by the acquisition of Bitnomial, an exchange, clearinghouse, and broker with full CFTC licensure, completed by Payward —Kraken’s parent company— in May 2026. It is on Bitnomial where the new contracts are listed, operating with a funding rate every eight hours: at 7:00 p.m., 3:00 a.m., and 11:00 a.m. Central Time, a payment is exchanged between long and short positions to keep the perpetual price anchored to the spot market.
Eligible clients can currently trade contracts on BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, ADA, LINK, DOGE, LTC, and AVAX. The company stated that it plans to expand both the available assets and collateral options.
Kraken: Key Strategic Acquisitions for the Market
Darius Tabatabai, Head of Kraken Pro, noted that Bitnomial’s regulated infrastructure was decisive in completing the launch within a short timeframe, and highlighted that combining the exchange’s technological distribution with Bitnomial’s regulatory groundwork would allow the company to scale the product for American traders.
The regulatory context also proved crucial. The CFTC, under the second Trump administration, recently approved the country’s first official Bitcoin perp on Kalshi, an instrument that accumulated more than $1 billion in volume in a short period, evidencing latent demand from both institutional and retail participants.
