The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission approves Singapore Exchange's crypto perpetual contra

Singapore Exchange has been authorized by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to open Bitcoin and Ethereum perpetual contracts to U.S. institutions

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has been authorized by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to allow U.S. institutional investors to directly access its Bitcoin and Ethereum perpetual futures products, thereby opening its existing crypto derivatives order book to U.S. trading companies.

Since its launch in November 2025, the cumulative transaction volume of these contracts has reached US$5.8 billion. U.S. customers will access these contracts through clearing members, and the check-in process typically takes two to four weeks. In addition, SGX plans to subsequently launch fixed-date Bitcoin and Ethereum futures and options products.

New regulatory regulations open up compliance channels

KC Lam, head of crypto derivatives at SGX Group, told CoinDesk that the CFTC authorization was granted under Section 48.10, which allows U.S. institutions to trade products that were previously inaccessible. "In accordance with the Section 48.10 ruling, we have obtained authorization from the CFTC to open our encryption products to U.S. agencies. Previously, U.S. participants could not trade these contracts, but now they can." Lam said.

This approval applies to SGX's Bitcoin Perpetual Futures (BTP) and Ethereum Perpetual Futures (ETP). These two products will start trading in late November 2025 and have no expiration date.

Section 48.10 provides a path for the Foreign Trade Commission (an overseas exchange recognized by the CFTC) to allow its qualified U.S. participants to have direct access to its electronic trading systems. As a result, SGX can make its existing contracts and order books open to eligible U.S. institutions without creating separate U.S. listed products or registering the Singapore Exchange as a domestic exchange.

Lam described the authorization as an important milestone in connecting traditional U.S. financial participants with the Asian liquidity pool. He said this regulatory approach would help establish the status of crypto derivatives as a regulated asset class.

U.S. Market Background and Competitive Landscape

In the United States, regulated perpetual futures are gradually gaining a place. In May this year, the CFTC approved the first regulated Bitcoin perpetual contract to be listed on a U.S. exchange, opening a domestic path for this type of contract, which previously had been mainly concentrated on offshore crypto platforms.

Qualified U.S. customers subsequently gained multiple channels of market entry. Previous reports pointed out that Kraken launched perpetual futures in June through its CFTC-regulated derivatives business Bitnomial, allowing eligible customers to access perpetual contracts in addition to spot, margin and traditional futures products.

In contrast, SGX takes a different path, extending direct institutional access to contracts already traded on the Singapore market. Since its launch in November 2025, SGX's cumulative trading volume of Bitcoin and Ethereum perpetual futures has reached US$5.8 billion, or approximately 400,000 contracts. As of August, the average daily volume of these two types of contracts reached 1,300 lots, or $19 million. Among them, Bitcoin accounted for 83% of average daily trading volume and 66% of open interest. The exchange recorded a peak trading volume of 11,500 lots during the peak period, with a nominal trading value of US$145 million.

Risk control mechanism is in line with traditional financial markets

Currently, traders use SGX's Bitcoin and Ethereum contracts for directional position trading and arbitrage strategies. Some positions are related to macroeconomic themes, such as concerns about currency devaluation, while other traders use cash hold arbitrage strategies to capture differences in funding rates and prices between different trading venues.

Although SGX contracts have no expiration date, their risk management structure is different from perpetual futures common on crypto-native exchanges. SGX uses a margin call notice mechanism that requires traders to provide additional collateral when positions fall below margin requirements, rather than immediately closing positions through automated clearing systems, like crypto exchanges.

"Unlike crypto-native platforms, which trigger automatic clearing during sharp fluctuations, our traditional risk framework uses margin calls and replenishment of collateral to prevent involuntary positions being closed during periods of market surges." Lam said.

Automatic liquidation occurs when leveraged positions experience a margin shortage due to price changes. Crypto exchanges can automatically close positions when collateral requirements are no longer met, a process that can lead to concentrated forced selling or buying behavior during periods of high market volatility.

As another part of its risk structure, SGX separates trading and clearing functions. Clearing members are located between the exchange and participating customers and serve as an intermediate layer for managing risk. "By having clearing members who act as intermediate risk buffers route transactions, we mirror the mature infrastructure of traditional futures and commodity markets." Lam said.

In addition, SGX does not accept stablecoins as collateral for its crypto perpetual contracts. Lam said stablecoins were excluded because they could lose anchor during periods of market volatility. SGX's contract instead uses benchmark indices developed jointly with CoinDesk Indices. Mohit Baheti, head of SGX group iEdge Indices, said the indices are managed under the EU Benchmark Regulation.

Future Outlook: Steady expansion of product line

With the approval of the first Bitcoin contract, the U.S.'s regulated sustainable products continue to expand. Kalshi introduced the Ethereum Perpetual Contract shortly after launching Bitcoin and later expanded its product line to include Solana Perpetual Futures, while several other crypto contracts are under regulatory review.

SGX plans to exceed the limits of perpetual contracts by developing fixed-dated Bitcoin and Ethereum futures and options. "Our next step is to launch fixed futures and options for Bitcoin and Ethereum." Lam said.

According to Lam, the infrastructure needed to build these products is the main technical effort. Once the system is up and running, SGX expects the process of adding other major cryptocurrencies to become similar to introducing another futures contract. "We plan to expand our product range, but we will take a disciplined, step-by-step approach." Lam concluded.