NEW YORK, April 23, 2026, 04:43 EDT
U.S. crypto exchanges are moving closer to offering regulated perpetual futures tied to ether, a leveraged product that has mostly lived offshore, after Kraken agreed to buy Bitnomial and U.S. regulators signaled a clearer path. Ether traded at $2,337.50 early Thursday in New York after touching $2,421.06 intraday, following a 3.5% gain a day earlier.
The timing matters. Perpetual futures are contracts without an expiry date, so traders can keep positions open as long as they meet margin rules. Coinbase says they account for more than 90% of global crypto derivatives volume and remain largely unavailable in the United States despite strong demand. A broader U.S. market for those contracts could pull more ether trading onshore and deepen liquidity, though it would also bring more leverage into a market that already swings fast.
Kraken parent Payward said on April 17 it would acquire Bitnomial for up to $550 million, gaining a CFTC-licensed derivatives platform built for digital assets. In announcing the deal, Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi called Bitnomial a “regulated foundation” for “spot margin, perpetuals, and options” in the United States, and Bitnomial’s own market pages list Ethereum futures and options in its crypto complex. Bitnomial
Coinbase already offers nano Ethereum perpetual-style futures in the United States with 24/7 trading, hourly funding and twice-daily margin cycles, according to its product material. Robinhood’s European help pages list ETHUSD perpetuals with up to 10x leverage and settlement every 15 minutes, showing how mainstream brokers are already packaging ether-linked perps outside the U.S.
The policy backdrop has shifted. CFTC Chair Michael Selig said in January the agency would use its tools to “onshore perpetual” and other novel derivatives, while Coinbase has said U.S. traders still turn to offshore venues for the contracts. That is the gap exchanges now want Washington to close. CFTC
The push is not just coming from exchanges. Johann Kerbrat, Robinhood’s general manager of crypto, told Reuters he would prefer “a proper perpetual product” that can compete with overseas markets, while Rebecca Rettig, chief legal and operating officer at Jito Labs, said the CFTC has been “extremely engaged” with the industry on how such products fit U.S. rules. Reuters
Price action remained uneven. Bitcoin traded at $77,797 early Thursday, while ether sat near the lower end of its daily range after Wednesday’s rally, when broader risk assets bounced on hopes the Iran ceasefire would hold.
The downside is plain. Robinhood warns that leverage can accelerate losses and raise the chance of losing an initial investment, and Coinbase says the risk of loss in futures trading can be substantial. If U.S. regulators open the door too widely, ether could draw more retail flow just as quickly as it draws liquidity.
Citi said last month that ether is especially sensitive to user-activity measures, which have been weak, even as stablecoin and tokenization trends may lift usage over time. A bigger domestic derivatives market could help price discovery, or simply give traders another way to press short-term bets.
The next move now rests with the CFTC and with how tough it wants to be on margin, disclosure and market structure. If the rules are tight, some activity may stay offshore; if they are workable, one of crypto’s busiest products may soon have a deeper U.S. footprint in ether.
