Coinbase has formally petitioned the Securities and Exchange Commission for permission to list 24/7 equity perpetual products, according to The Block. The filing represents the latest attempt by the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange to bridge traditional securities markets with the round-the-clock trading infrastructure native to digital assets. Perpetual contracts, which have no expiry date and use funding rate mechanisms to track underlying asset prices, have become the dominant trading instrument in cryptocurrency markets but remain largely unavailable for equity exposure in regulated U.S. venues.
The SEC petition arrives as Commodity Futures Trading Commission officials simultaneously move to defend crypto perpetual futures from challenge by established market infrastructure. CFTC attorneys filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by CME Group, arguing that the Chicago-based derivatives giant lacked standing to bring its claims and characterizing the legal challenge as "much ado about nothing," per Cointelegraph. CME had sought to constrain the regulatory treatment of crypto perpetual futures, which compete with traditional futures contracts that CME itself lists and clears.
The parallel developments highlight the fragmented regulatory landscape facing novel derivatives products in the United States. While the CFTC defends its jurisdiction over crypto perpetuals from incumbent exchange challenge, the SEC now confronts a request to extend similar instruments into equity markets—products that would directly compete with listed options and futures currently subject to exchange trading hours limitations. The CME lawsuit dismissal effort suggests the CFTC views crypto-native perpetual structures as distinct from traditional futures, potentially clearing path for their continued operation under commodity regulatory frameworks.
Prediction market platform Kalshi, meanwhile, faces distinct structural concerns as it expands its own non-stop trading offerings. The platform's newly launched oil contract, designed to provide continuous exposure without expiration, contains a design feature that could expose traders to severe price dislocations during weekend periods when underlying crude markets remain closed, according to CryptoSlate. The contract eliminates expiry mechanics while the reference market maintains traditional closure schedules, creating potential for gap risk that perpetual funding mechanisms may not adequately price during illiquid periods.
Kalshi's oil product illustrates the broader tension in extending 24/7 trading infrastructure to assets whose underlying reference markets operate on limited hours. Unlike cryptocurrency markets, which trade continuously globally, traditional commodity and equity markets retain structured sessions that create predictable liquidity patterns. The Kalshi contract structure appears to import crypto-market design assumptions into instruments referencing fundamentally different market architectures.
The simultaneous regulatory engagements—SEC review of Coinbase equity perpetuals, CFTC defense of crypto perpetual jurisdiction, and Kalshi's novel commodity contracts—suggest U.S. derivatives regulation is being stress-tested by platforms seeking to erase temporal trading constraints. Whether regulators will permit perpetual structures to proliferate across asset classes, or impose guardrails addressing the gap risks evident in Kalshi's oil contract, remains unresolved as both agencies navigate competing demands from traditional exchanges and crypto-native platforms.