DRW founder and CEO Don Wilson said the market and regulators are getting perpetual futures wrong. In a July 29 post, Wilson argued that a perpetual future is simply a futures contract without an expiration date, and that many features commonly associated with crypto perpetuals are not inherent to the instrument itself. He said high leverage, auto-deleveraging, 24/7 trading, and continuous margining reflect product design choices made by crypto venues operating with digital collateral and real-time margin systems, rather than defining traits of perpetual contracts. Wilson also took aim at auto-deleveraging, saying he does not like the ADL mechanism and sees no reason why perpetuals must rely on it. He said the real benefit of perpetual futures is that traders do not need to keep rolling positions from one contract month to the next. In his view, that lowers trading costs, cuts market impact and roll slippage, and keeps exposure closer to the front end of the futures curve. As U.S. regulators continue debating whether perpetuals should be treated as futures or swaps, Wilson urged them to classify the product by economic substance. A contract should not be labeled a swap simply because it has no expiry, he said, adding that perpetuals should be used more broadly across commodities, securities, and crypto markets as tools for price discovery and risk management.

DRW Chief Executive Don Wilson said much of the market discussion around perpetual futures has drifted away from what the contracts actually are. In a series of posts on X, Wilson argued that perpetual futures, or perps, are simply futures contracts without an expiration date, and that many features commonly linked to crypto perps come from exchange design choices rather than the contracts themselves. He pointed to high leverage, auto-deleveraging and 24/7 trading as examples of mechanisms adopted by some crypto venues, not defining traits of perpetual futures. Wilson said those distinctions matter as U.S. regulated markets continue to examine whether and how perpetual contracts could be introduced more broadly. He also referenced the role of real-time settlement and digital collateral in improving margin management. Wilson’s broader argument was that regulators should focus on economic substance instead of legal labels. In his view, perpetual futures should not be classified as swaps simply because they do not expire. He said the product’s main innovation is eliminating the need to roll expiring contracts, which can lower transaction costs, reduce market impact and cut roll slippage. Wilson added that perpetual futures should be available in markets beyond crypto, including commodities and securities.

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