Headline: CBOE weighs switching BTC and ETH futures to perpetuals after Kalshi’s explosive debut
CBOE Global Markets is studying whether to convert its continuous Bitcoin and Ether futures into perpetual contracts, a move prompted by a recent regulatory green light and a surge of trading activity in the perpetuals market. The Wall Street Journal reported June 23 that Rob Hocking, CBOE’s global head of derivatives, confirmed the exchange is evaluating the shift — though he gave no timetable for any changes.
The rethink follows the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s decision to allow prediction-market operator Kalshi to list cryptocurrency perpetual futures. Kalshi’s product quickly gained traction: the exchange logged more than $8.5 billion in trading volume within weeks of launch, underscoring how rapidly perpetuals can attract liquidity.
CBOE first launched continuous Bitcoin and Ether futures in December, offering contracts with expiries out as far as 10 years. Now the exchange is weighing whether perpetuals — a crypto-native contract style popularized by BitMEX that never expires and instead uses periodic funding payments to keep prices close to the underlying asset — might be a better fit for certain traders and market structures.
The CFTC approval has not been without controversy. Earlier this month the Chicago Mercantile Exchange sued the regulator, arguing Kalshi’s permission to list perpetuals violated federal law and inflicted “textbook competitive injury” on incumbent futures exchanges. The lawsuit highlights the high commercial stakes as tradFi incumbents, crypto-native platforms, and decentralized venues jostle for share in a booming segment of derivatives trading.
Perpetuals are spreading beyond spot crypto. Coinbase recently launched perpetual futures tied to stock indexes, offering eligible U.S. traders leveraged exposure to sectors such as AI, defense, and Chinese equities. Coinbase International earlier rolled out round-the-clock futures linked to U.S.-listed stocks for eligible non-U.S. traders. Commodity perpetuals are also seeing renewed interest; BitMEX pointed to rising demand amid volatility in oil and gold.
Decentralized exchanges remain a major hub for perpetual activity. Data from DeFiLlama show DEXs processed more than $22.5 billion in perpetual futures volume in the past 24 hours and roughly $663 billion over the previous 30 days, with Hyperliquid accounting for a large share of that flow.
With a regulatory pathway now open in the U.S., perpetuals are moving inside the established market structure — and the race is on. Traditional exchanges, crypto-native platforms and DeFi venues are all adjusting product lineups and market infrastructure to capture a market that, until recently, was largely concentrated offshore and on unregulated venues.
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