Crypto’s Perpetual-Futures Playbook Is Moving Into U.S. Markets

By Isaac • September 4, 2026 7:14 am •

One of crypto’s most important trading inventions is no longer staying inside crypto.

Perpetual futures—leveraged contracts that track an asset without a fixed expiration date—are moving into regulated U.S. markets. What began as the dominant structure on offshore crypto exchanges is now shaping proposals for Bitcoin, equities and even physical commodities such as oil.

CryptoSlate describes a market-structure shift with consequences well beyond a new product listing. Exchanges and regulators must decide how round-the-clock trading, continuous funding payments, margin and automatic liquidation fit inside systems built around closing bells and dated contracts.

The report follows the model from its crypto origins into regulated U.S. venues and then into proposals involving equities and energy. Its central tension