CBOE weighs crypto perpetuals after $8.5B surge
- CBOE is evaluating perpetual Bitcoin and Ether futures following recent regulatory approvals in the United States.
- Kalshi's crypto perpetual futures generated more than US$8.5 billion in trading volume within weeks of launch.
- Growing competition is increasing pressure on traditional exchanges, crypto platforms and decentralised trading venues.
CBOE Global Markets is considering converting its Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) and Ether (CRYPTO:ETH) futures into perpetual contracts after Kalshi recorded more than US$8.5 billion in crypto perpetual futures trading volume within weeks of launch.
The review follows a decision by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to allow Kalshi to offer cryptocurrency perpetual futures, creating a new competitive challenge for established futures exchanges.
“We are exploring the possibility,” said CBOE Global Markets Global Head of Derivatives Rob Hocking.
CBOE launched continuous Bitcoin and Ether futures in December with expirations extending up to 10 years, and the company is now assessing whether perpetual contracts could offer an alternative product structure.
The move comes as Chicago Mercantile Exchange has sued the CFTC over Kalshi's approval, arguing the decision harmed incumbent futures exchanges, while trading activity continues to shift toward perpetual products; following the developments, CBOE shares were unchanged and no immediate stock market reaction was reported.
Perpetual futures have become one of the most widely traded crypto derivatives because they do not expire and instead use funding payments to keep prices aligned with underlying assets.
According to DeFiLlama data, decentralised exchanges processed more than US$22.5 billion in perpetual futures volume over the past 24 hours and about US$663 billion during the previous 30 days, with Hyperliquid accounting for a significant share of activity.
At the time of reporting, Bitcoin price was $62,783.50.
