Coinbase Files With SEC to Seek 24/7 Perpetual Futures on U.S. Stocks

Coinbase has filed notice registrations with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this week in a bid to list perpetual futures on individual U.S. stocks for American customers, Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad said in a post on X on Thursday. The filing is only the first step in a two-agency approval process. Coinbase also needs clearance from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Shirzad said equity perps have already shown demand internationally. Coinbase launched single-stock perpetuals for non-U.S. customers in March, covering names including Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia and Amazon. Coinbase has not said which stocks it would list domestically, how much leverage it would allow, or when trading might start. Perpetual futures dominate offshore crypto trading. Extending them to single names would let U.S. traders take leveraged long or short positions on Apple or Nvidia around the clock without owning shares or rolling contracts forward. That would put the product in competition with listed options and with the offshore venues where much of the volume currently sits. Kalshi has reportedly filed with the CFTC to list equity index perpetuals, bringing the prediction market operator into closer competition with incumbent exchanges. The CFTC opened the door in May, when staff cleared Kalshi’s BTCPERP contract and issued a no-action letter allowing Coinbase Financial Markets to route U.S. clients into perpetuals listed on Coinbase’s Bermuda venue as foreign futures. Political pressure is moving in the same direction. President Donald Trump said at the White House in August that CFTC Chair Michael Selig was working to bring the offshore perpetuals platform Hyperliquid onshore in a compliant and legal way. The bigger classification fight is still in court. CME Group sued the CFTC in June, arguing that perpetual futures involve two parties exchanging ongoing payments and therefore meet the Dodd-Frank definition of a swap rather than a future. On Wednesday, the CFTC asked a judge to dismiss the suit, telling the court that CME cannot claim competitive injury because nothing prevents it from listing perpetuals itself. Hyperliquid Labs, meanwhile, is in talks to enter the U.S. through a deal with Payward, Kraken’s parent. Related Listen: New US Rules Could Force Coinbase to Delist Tether