CFTC Staff Clears Crypto Exchanges to Convert Futures into Perpetuals

The CFTC's Division of Market Oversight issued no action positions against two crypto exchanges for potential violations under CFTC Rule 40.6 ("Self-Certification") conditioned on the removal of expiration dates from their existing digital-commodity futures, a change that would turn the contracts into perpetual futures.

Division staff explained that perpetual futures, which have no fixed expiration and use a periodic funding-rate mechanism to track an asset's spot price, had traded largely offshore. The two exchanges had instead listed "perpetual-style" contracts with long-dated expirations, in some cases up to 25 years, while their classification in the United States was unsettled. After the CFTC issued an Order in May 2026 confirming that perpetual futures on bitcoin and similar digital commodities could be listed as futures, the exchanges sought to drop the expiration dates and convert the contracts.

The staff agreed to let the exchanges make the change with immediate effect. Staff conditioned the relief on safeguards for holders of open positions, including soliciting their feedback, giving at least five calendar days' notice, allowing them to close out at the existing terms, and providing risk disclosures.