Kraken is expanding its regulated U.S. perpetual futures offering through Bitnomial, adding another group of crypto-linked contracts to infrastructure already available to eligible American traders. The latest certifications broaden a U.S. perpetuals market that Kraken launched earlier this year, rather than establishing the service for the first time.
Kraken officially launched CFTC-regulated perpetual futures for eligible U.S. clients on June 15, with contracts listed through Bitnomial Exchange. The product gives traders leveraged long or short exposure without a fixed expiration date, while operating through a domestic CFTC-regulated derivatives framework.
Bitnomial Expands Its Perpetual Futures Lineup
CFTC records show Bitnomial certified another broad set of perpetual contracts on September 2, including products tied to Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, XRP and Cardano. The September filings expand the range of underlying crypto assets available through Bitnomial’s regulated derivatives infrastructure.
The Cardano filing is particularly notable because Bitnomial’s earlier May certifications already covered BTC, ETH, SOL and XRP. The latest round therefore represents an expansion of an existing regulated product set, alongside additional contracts referencing assets such as Avalanche, Chainlink, Dogecoin, Polkadot and Stellar.
Bitnomial operates as a CFTC-registered Designated Contract Market, while affiliated entities provide clearinghouse and futures-commission-merchant infrastructure. Payward completed its acquisition of Bitnomial in May. That ownership gives Kraken’s parent company access to an integrated U.S. exchange, clearing and brokerage stack built specifically for regulated derivatives.
U.S. Perpetuals Move Further Onshore
Perpetual futures differ from conventional futures because they do not expire and instead use periodic funding payments to help keep contract prices aligned with spot markets. The structure removes the need to continually roll expiring positions but retains substantial leverage, funding-rate and liquidation risk. Kraken currently requires USD collateral for its U.S. Bitnomial-listed perpetuals.
The expansion represents another step toward moving a derivatives format historically concentrated on offshore crypto exchanges into regulated U.S. markets. Bitnomial’s September certifications broaden domestic access without removing the regulatory and eligibility requirements attached to futures trading.
For Kraken, the strategic significance lies in product breadth rather than simply obtaining permission to launch perpetuals. The U.S. perpetual market is already operational, and the latest Bitnomial filings extend the number of crypto assets that can potentially trade through that regulated infrastructure, deepening Payward’s push into domestic derivatives.
Emma Lawson writes about the pressure points where crypto meets the outside world: regulation, exchanges, macro policy, tokenized assets and geopolitical risk. From the US, she follows the decisions and events that can change how capital moves, how platforms operate and how digital assets are treated by institutions.
Her work is direct and evidence-led. Emma is less interested in legal theatre than in practical consequences: what changed, who is affected, which risks are real and where the market may be overreacting. She brings a steady voice to complex stories, especially when regulation, infrastructure and global markets start pulling in the same direction.