Six firms back CFTC in equity perpetuals court fight

Coinbase, Kalshi and four other firms have backed the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in a court fight over US equity perpetual futures.

The six companies filed an amicus brief on 9 November, opposing the Capital Markets Alliance Association’s request for a preliminary injunction.

The brief argues that equity perpetuals meet the Commodity Exchange Act’s definition of security futures.

“The Court should deny CMAA’s motion for an emergency preliminary injunction,” the six firms stated in their filing.

The companies say the contracts should remain under joint CFTC and Securities and Exchange Commission oversight.

Unlike traditional futures, equity perpetuals have no fixed expiry date and use funding payments to track underlying share prices.

Coinbase Derivatives, KalshiEX and Bitnomial each applied to list perpetual futures tied to individual large-cap US stocks on 18 September.

The applications were deemed approved on 2 November, following the CFTC’s review process described in the brief.

The case now puts the US regulatory treatment of equity perpetuals before the Southern District of New York, with the injunction request still contested.