Prediction market platform Kalsi’s Perpetual Futures has already surpassed $1 billion in trading volume within a week of its launch last week, the company exclusively shared with CNBC.
The company officially launched trading in virtual currency perpetual futures (“perps”) on Wednesday, with more than $100 million traded in the first 24 hours. Volume is nominal, meaning that the leverage the trader receives on the contract is included in this number.
Perps are futures contracts with no expiry date that allow traders to speculate on prices without owning the underlying asset. The contract continuously tracks the price of the asset and pays out funds to bring the perpetual contract price in line with the market.
Global trading volume for the asset class exceeds $90 trillion annually, according to Bank of America, but before Kalsi there was no way to trade contracts in the United States.
(Kalushi CEO Tarek Mansour will appear on CNBC’s “Fast Money” Tuesdays at 5 p.m. ET.)
On May 29, Karsi received regulatory approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as the first company to offer PERP contracts in the United States. coinbase On the same day, the company received regulatory approval to provide U.S. traders with access to global PERP contracts through an affiliate.
Since the launch of Kalushi, pent-up domestic demand has been reflected in Kalushi. A spokesperson said there were at one point more than 1 million people on the waiting list for access to criminals on the platform, making it the fastest growing product in the company’s history. It took Kalsi 40 months to reach $1 billion in volume across event contracts.
Perpetuals marks the company’s biggest product launch since it first launched its prediction market.
Disclosure: CNBC and Kalsi have a commercial relationship that includes customer acquisition and minority ownership.
