Ondo Finance is urging US regulators to bring single-stock perpetual contracts under regulatory oversight, arguing that the product can operate compliantly within the existing securities futures framework without new rules. In three comment letters sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on August 24, Ondo stated that current rules can accommodate equity perpetual futures while incorporating modern margin practices and on-chain market data.
Ondo noted that its Panama-based affiliate has already been offering stablecoin-settled perpetual contracts on individual US stocks overseas. Since its launch in June, the product has accumulated $8 billion in trading volume through August 14. The company argued that periodic funding rate payments can keep perpetual contracts aligned with the underlying stock prices, functioning similarly to traditional futures expiration settlements. In the letters, Ondo said that the statutory definition of securities futures products does not require a fixed expiration date. The company also pointed out that many offshore perpetual contracts are based on stocks primarily traded on US exchanges, and that bringing such business back to the US should be a priority for both agencies.
According to data from RWA.xyz, Ondo is one of the largest managers of tokenized real-world assets (RWA), with about $2.6 billion in distributed value as of Wednesday, ranking fourth. Ondo's proposal comes as US regulators reassess existing market rules for on-chain products, including perpetuals and tokenized securities. In March, the SEC and CFTC signed a memorandum of understanding to coordinate oversight in areas of overlapping jurisdiction.