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Prediction market giant Kalsi on Friday announced plans to launch perpetual futures contracts, starting with perpetual contracts for cryptocurrencies. These will provide U.S. traders with a regulated alternative to the offshore platforms that have dominated this market.
Perpetual futures, or “perps”, are futures-style contracts with no set expiration date. Traders don’t have to keep moving from one dated contract to the next. Instead, the contract is designed to continuously track the price of the underlying asset, and the payment of funds keeps the PERP price in line with the market.
For example, virtual currency payment companies and fund managers Bitcoin Regulated perpetual contracts can potentially be used to hedge price risk without constantly controlling the expiration date of the contract. If a company is scheduled to receive Bitcoin next week, it may sell short Bitcoin in perpetuity to offset the risk that Bitcoin will decline before the payment is converted or booked.
More speculative traders may place bullish or bearish bets using the same instrument without selecting an expiration date.
Perps has become one of the leading trading tools for cryptocurrencies. Kalsi said the annual transaction value of offshore perpetual contracts has increased from $28 trillion in 2023 to more than $90 trillion in 2025.
Although this is a huge market, certain U.S. institutions have often had to access it indirectly or through offshore platforms.
Perpetual futures require regulatory approval. Kalsi said the products will be offered under the supervision of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Polymarket also leverages its proprietary PERP service to facilitate 24/7 long/short trading. These companies are looking beyond elections, sports, macro data, or one-time event contracts.
Mr. Kalsi relies on regulation as a differentiator. The company says the funding rate will be charged every eight hours and will be displayed in your transaction history. It added that agricultural permanent products are not included in the product lineup.
Disclosure: CNBC and Kalsi have a commercial relationship that includes a minority investment in CNBC.
