Much of the activity took place on offshore exchanges, including fast-growing platforms such as Hyperliquid, which attracted professional traders looking for deep liquidity and continued access to leveraged markets. Prediction marketplace Kalshi, which introduced perps on its platform earlier this month, recorded a trading volume of over $1 billion in just one week.
The debut comes weeks after the CFTC signaled that regulated platforms could offer perpetual futures contracts. In May, the agency approved Kalshi’s Bitcoin perpetual contracts and issued guidelines that also paved the way for Coinbase (COIN) to connect U.S. customers to global options and perpetual markets.
Kraken prepared for the listing through a series of derivatives-focused acquisitions and product launches. The company acquired NinjaTrader in May 2025 and Bitnomial a year later to benefit from a regulated futures infrastructure. It recently added CME-listed crypto futures and margin trading for US clients.
Kraken head of derivatives John Palmer told CoinDesk last week that adoption could mirror the trajectory of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with sophisticated traders entering first before investment advisors and asset managers follow after conducting internal reviews.
At launch, Kraken perpetual futures cover major cryptocurrencies including BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, ADA, LINK, DOGE, LTC, and AVAX. The company said it plans to expand the range of contracts and warranty options over time.
