The Chicago Board Options Exchange is weighing a major product shift — converting its continuous Bitcoin and Ether futures into perpetual contracts. The move would put CBOE head-to-head with the fastest-growing segment of crypto derivatives.
The Wall Street Journal reported that CBOE’s global head of derivatives, Rob Hocking, confirmed the exchange is exploring the switch after the CFTC greenlit crypto perpetual futures for Kalshi and laid out a pathway for other registered exchanges to follow. No timeline was given.
CBOE launched its continuous BTC and ETH futures last December, with contract expirations stretching up to a decade. Perpetual futures are different — no expiration date, leveraged positions that can be held indefinitely, and periodic funding payments to keep prices tethered to the spot market. BitMEX popularized them years ago, and they’ve dominated crypto derivatives ever since.
Demand is surging. Kalshi’s crypto perpetual futures have pulled in over $8.5 billion in trading volume within weeks of launching. And it’s not just centralized exchanges — DeFi platforms processed over $22.5 billion in perpetual futures volume in the past 24 hours alone, with Hyperliquid leading the pack.
Not everyone’s happy about it. The CME Group sued the CFTC earlier this month, arguing that letting Kalshi list perpetual futures violates federal law and causes “textbook competitive injury” to incumbent exchanges.
The trend is spreading beyond crypto too. Coinbase recently launched perpetual futures tied to stock indexes, giving US traders leveraged exposure to AI, defense, and Chinese equity sectors.
