Coinbase and Payward File With CFTC for Single-Stock Perpetual Futures

Coinbase and Payward, the parent company of Kraken, have separately filed with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to offer single-stock perpetual futures on US equities, marking the first time major crypto exchanges have sought regulatory approval for this product class in the American market.

Coinbase's filing, submitted through its Coinbase Derivatives subsidiary, covers more than 50 individual US company stocks. The contracts would carry no fixed expiration date, use hourly funding rates, and clear through Nodal Clear. Payward filed a parallel application for Kraken traders. Both filings are pending CFTC review, and neither exchange has received approval.

The proposed contracts would trade 24 hours a day, five days a week, continuous except on weekends. That schedule has no precedent in US equity markets, where futures on stock indexes follow exchange hours tied to the New York session. The 24/5 model imports the continuous trading mechanics that have defined crypto derivatives since BitMEX introduced perpetual futures around 2016, and applies them directly to individual American company stocks.

Perpetual futures differ from traditional futures in one critical way: they never expire. Instead of rolling positions from one contract to the next, traders hold indefinitely and pay or receive a periodic funding rate that keeps the contract price anchored to the underlying asset. The hourly funding mechanism Coinbase has specified is standard in crypto markets but would be new terrain for equity derivatives. For retail traders accustomed to traditional options or futures, the continuous funding cost represents a structural difference that can accumulate significantly over time.

The CFTC has historically moved cautiously on novel derivatives structures, particularly those that introduce leverage to retail investors through new channels. Regulators have flagged market manipulation risk and systemic exposure as recurring concerns when evaluating crypto-adjacent products. Clearing through Nodal Clear rather than a traditional equity clearinghouse may draw additional scrutiny, since counterparty risk frameworks differ between the two infrastructure types. The commission could approve, reject, or substantially revise both proposals.

If approved, the products would create direct pricing overlap between crypto exchange order books and traditional equity markets during US off-hours. A stock trading on Coinbase Derivatives at 11 p.m. on a Tuesday would have no corresponding lit market to reference, raising the prospect of price dislocations that arbitrageurs would need to close when regular sessions resume. That dynamic could cut both ways: tighter global price discovery in some scenarios, amplified volatility in others.

Coinbase already operates a regulated derivatives exchange following its 2022 acquisition of FairX, which provided the CFTC-registered venue that Coinbase Derivatives now operates under. That existing regulatory footprint gives the company a procedural path that newer entrants would not have. Payward is pursuing the same approval through its own registered structure.

For the CFTC, the question is whether perpetual futures on individual stocks fit within the commission's mandate to oversee commodity derivatives, and whether the proposed risk controls are adequate for a product that never closes. The agency's answer will set a precedent that extends well beyond these two filings. A green light would open the door for other crypto platforms to offer similar products; a rejection or extended delay would signal where the regulatory boundary currently sits between crypto derivatives and traditional equity markets.