CFTC Chair Michael Selig defends approval of perps trading in US

The US just got its first regulated Bitcoin perpetual futures contract, and the man who made it happen isn’t apologizing for it.

CFTC Chairman Michael Selig has been defending the agency’s decision to approve perpetual futures trading domestically, arguing that it’s better to build the new asset class at home than watch it flourish exclusively offshore. The approval of KalshiEX’s BTCPERP contract on May 29 marks the first true Bitcoin perpetual futures product on a regulated US market, and the first entirely new derivative type the CFTC has greenlit in over a decade.

What are perps, and why does this matter

Perpetual futures, or “perps,” are futures contracts with no expiration date. They’ve been the single most popular trading instrument in crypto for years, dominating volume on offshore exchanges like Binance and Bybit.

Selig’s position is straightforward: if the demand exists, and it clearly does, the US should be the one capturing it. He’s pointed to liquidity flowing to platforms in Asia, Europe, and the Bahamas as evidence that regulatory inaction has simply exported American trading volume rather than preventing it.

“Incumbents will always fear the future,” Selig said, a not-so-subtle jab at traditional market players who have pushed back against the approval.

The CME problem and the Coinbase angle

CME Group, the Chicago-based derivatives giant that already offers Bitcoin and Ethereum futures with expiration dates, has been a vocal critic. For CME, the arrival of perpetual futures on regulated US exchanges represents direct competition to its existing crypto derivatives business.

The CFTC also issued no-action relief that allows Coinbase to connect US customers to foreign perpetual contracts. In English: Coinbase can now serve as a bridge for American users to access perps trading on international platforms without the company or its customers facing enforcement action.

A new regulatory posture

Selig was confirmed as CFTC Chairman on December 18, 2025, and his tenure has already been defined by a willingness to move faster than his predecessors on crypto-related approvals. The fact that the agency hasn’t approved an entirely new derivative type in more than ten years gives you a sense of how significant this moment is.

The initial guardrails are relatively conservative. The BTCPERP contract launches with a leverage limit of 10x, meaning traders can control positions worth ten times their collateral. By offshore standards, that’s modest. Platforms outside US jurisdiction routinely offer 50x or even 100x leverage.

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