Perps Are Coming Onshore | CFTC Chairman Mike Selig

June 15, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The US Perps Market Is Opening — With Guardrails

CFTC Chairman Mike Selig describes the approval of the first onshore Bitcoin perpetual futures contract as "a watershed moment" — the beginning of a deliberate effort to bring crypto derivatives activity back from offshore platforms onto US-regulated exchanges. "If we erect barriers, if we push this activity offshore, it will go offshore and it's not going to benefit the American people because they're going to go use a VPN and access it anyway, and they have none of the protections."

The CFTC approved CalCx to list a Bitcoin perpetual contract and simultaneously gave Coinbase a no-action letter allowing it to pipe customers to Deribit for futures, options, and perps. Selig says this is "the beginning and not the end" — and within a week, roughly seventeen other crypto assets had been self-certified by exchanges for perpetual contracts.

How Asset Categories Determine the Path to Market

The CFTC and SEC jointly issued an interpretation dividing crypto assets into categories: digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools (like liquid staking receipts), digital securities, tokenized stocks, and stablecoins. This classification determines how easily a perpetual contract can reach US markets.

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What you'll learn

1 (00:00) **Introduction: The Watershed Moment for U.S. Perps** - CFTC Chairman Mike Selig announces the approval of the first onshore Bitcoin perpetual futures contract and a no-action letter for Coinbase to access offshore perps via Deribit.
2 (02:51) **The Gold Rush: Which Assets Are Self-Certifiable?** - Selig explains the CFTC/SEC joint interpretation dividing crypto assets into categories (digital commodities, collectibles, securities, etc.).
3 (07:09) **The Onshore Perp Landscape: Exchanges and Players** - Coinbase, CalCX, Kraken, Gemini, and others are racing to offer U.S.-regulated perps.
4 (10:02) **Key Guardrails: How U.S. Perps Differ from Offshore** - The CFTC’s rules create a safer product for investors.
5 (12:44) **On-Chain Transparency: A Regulator’s Dream?** - Blockchain technology offers inherent auditability and transparency that can replace traditional trade reporting.
6 (17:17) **The Hyperliquid Problem: On-Chain Perps Without KYC** - Hyperliquid dominates offshore perp volume but is structurally opposed to KYC.
7 (22:59) **Real World Asset (RWA) Perps: The Next Frontier** - RWA perps (oil, gold, pre-IPO stocks like Anthropic, OpenAI) now dominate perp volume over crypto.

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Show Notes

Perps are coming onshore. CFTC Chairman Mike Selig joins David to unpack the first U.S.-regulated Bitcoin perpetual futures contract, the end of regulation by enforcement, and what comes next for Coinbase, Kalshi, Kraken, Gemini, Hyperliquid, Lighter, and the broader U.S. perp market. They also discuss which assets could list next, how U.S. leverage will differ from offshore exchanges, and why equity perps, RWAs, and 24/7 trading may be the next frontier of American finance.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Intro

3:32 Self-Certified Crypto Contracts

7:08 Chasing the U.S. Perps Market

9:00 Bringing Liquidity Onshore

10:18 U.S. Market Guardrails

12:44 Blockchain Transparency Advantage

19:17 Hyperliquid and Onchain Perps

23:09 Real-World Asset Perps

24:38 Equity Perps & SEC

26:35 Incumbents Versus Disruptors

31:28 Derivatives Dominating Crypto

33:16 Perps Are Just Beginning

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RESOURCES

CFTC Chair Mike Selig

https://x.com/ChairmanSelig

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