The Kalsi logo can be seen in this illustration taken on August 3, 2026.
Dado Ruvik | Reuters
Prediction market platform Kalsi said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday that it aims to launch perpetual futures tied to stock indexes.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission filing is the company’s latest move beyond offering prediction markets, which began in late May when Kalsi first received approval to trade perpetual futures related to cryptocurrencies.
Perpetual futures, colloquially known as “purps,” are futures-style contracts that have no expiration date and do not require the trader to own the underlying asset. Instead, the contract continuously tracks the price of the asset and makes payments of funds to bring the contract price in line with the market price.
Karsi’s US500 PERP will track the MerQube US Large Cap Index, which tracks the 500 largest companies listed and domiciled in the United States, according to the filing.
Tarek Mansour, co-founder and CEO of Karshi, speaks on CNBC’s Squawk Box on June 24, 2026.
CNBC
Mr. Kalsi submitted a proposal to the CFTC last month to launch a PERP tied to precious metals such as gold and silver. In Tuesday’s filing, the company also sought regulatory approval for criminal activity related to industrial metal copper.
Until Kalsi received regulatory approval a few months ago, perpetual futures were an asset class that was entirely offshore from the United States. CNBC previously reported that perpetual futures will exceed $90 trillion in global trading volume by 2025, and within a week of launch, the company’s perpetual futures exceeded $1 billion in notional value.
Stocks on exchanges like CME Group and CBOE Global Market It fell in early June following domestic PERP approval over concerns that the asset could trigger increased competition from existing players with traditional futures contracts. CME sued the CFTC in federal court over the recognition of the assets.
CBOE Global Markets and CME Group for 3 months.
Kalsi said at a June event announcing the PERPS product that he wants the company to be seen as a full-fledged multi-asset financial exchange.
“This is the next step in building the largest exchange on the planet,” Karsi engineer Lior Hirschfeld said in the presentation.
But stocks on traditional exchanges rose on Tuesday. CME rose 2% and CBOE rose 0.2%.
Disclosure: CNBC and Kalsi have a commercial relationship that includes customer acquisition and minority ownership.
