The Impending Gold Rush for The US Perp Market

U.S. regulators’ recent approvals — notably the CFTC’s greenlight for Kalshi’s BTCPERP and a no‑action letter enabling Coinbase to route U.S. clients to global perpetuals — open a large onshore market for perpetual futures. The move is likely to redirect massive offshore perp volumes on to regulated U.S. venues, boost trading revenue (perps generate outsized fee income at major exchanges), and spur competition from incumbents and crypto-native players such as Hyperliquid. That competition could expand perpetuals beyond crypto into commodities (including gold XAUUSD and oil) and equities, increasing 24/7 liquidity and fee pools, but also raising leverage‑related market‑stability risks highlighted by a recent Hyperliquid flash crash. Overall, the regulatory shift is market‑positive for platforms and exchange tokens, supports higher volumes and fee capture, but warrants scrutiny on risk management and product scope.