Coinbase Derivatives, Kalshi and Payward-owned Bitnomial have filed regulatory proposals aimed at bringing perpetual futures tied to individual U.S. stocks to domestic traders. The September 18 filings seek to adapt the no-expiry contract structure popularized in crypto markets to regulated U.S. security futures, giving eligible traders leveraged long or short exposure without owning the underlying shares. None of the proposed products has received final CFTC approval.
According to the SEC’s Coinbase Derivatives filing, the exchange wants to list cash-settled perpetual futures on individual equities and ETF shares. Public reporting places Coinbase’s planned initial universe at roughly 50 to 60 stocks, while Kalshi filed a substantially similar framework alongside dozens of individual products. Both platforms are notice-registered with the SEC as national securities exchanges for security futures while also operating as CFTC-designated contract markets.
Security Futures Require Dual Regulatory Oversight
Single-stock futures occupy a different regulatory category from broad-based equity-index futures. Because their underlying assets are securities, security futures products fall under joint SEC and CFTC jurisdiction, requiring exchanges to satisfy securities-market rules alongside Commodity Exchange Act requirements. The September filings follow the entities’ earlier security futures registration steps, but registration of a venue is separate from approval of the new products themselves.
Coinbase proposes cash-settled contracts with no scheduled expiration, using recurring funding payments to keep perpetual prices aligned with their reference securities. Holding a perpetual would provide economic exposure rather than ownership of the stock, so traders would not receive shares through settlement. Coinbase’s rules also establish listing thresholds, trading halts, corporate-action adjustments and procedures for terminating a perpetual contract if necessary.
Kalshi separately submitted products tied to individual equities and ETFs, with CFTC records listing contracts including Apple, Nvidia, Amazon, Tesla, SPY and QQQ as pending. The proposed contracts represent a major expansion beyond Kalshi’s original prediction-market business and its newer crypto perpetual offering, but their equity-linked nature subjects them to the security-futures framework rather than the rules governing ordinary event contracts.
Payward Plans Initial 10-Stock Kraken Rollout
Payward is pursuing the same market through Bitnomial, which it acquired in May. Its initial plan covers 10 stocks, including Apple, Nvidia, Tesla, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Broadcom, Micron, Palantir and SpaceX, with trading targeted for 24 hours a day, five days a week. The products would be offered to eligible U.S. Kraken clients only after the applicable regulatory process is completed.
Bitnomial’s filing specifies perpetual funding, cash settlement and coordinated trading halts, with one standard contract representing 100 shares but permitting fractional trading down to 0.01 share. The exchange also proposes surveillance covering wash trading, insider trading and attempts to manipulate funding or settlement prices. These contracts would reproduce several mechanics familiar from crypto perpetuals while remaining tied to the regulatory safeguards governing U.S. equities.
The filings extend a broader push by crypto-native firms into equity-linked markets. Coinbase already offers regulated crypto perpetual-style products domestically, while Kraken has built international stock exposure through tokenized products and Coinbase operates equity derivatives offshore. Recent expansion of stock-linked trading products illustrates the wider convergence, but U.S. single-stock perpetuals would operate under a materially different legal structure. The immediate milestone is CFTC action on the pending applications, which will determine whether Coinbase, Kalshi and Bitnomial can move from regulatory filings to actual U.S. trading.
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.