Blockchain Association Urges SEC, CFTC to Bring Equity Perpetuals to US Markets

Blockchain Association Urges SEC, CFTC to Bring Equity Perpetuals to US Markets

Giuseppe Ciccomascolo

Wed, August 26, 2026 at 3:07 PM GMT+3 4 min read

Key Takeaways

• The Blockchain Association urged the SEC and CFTC to create a coordinated US framework for equity perpetual contracts.

• It proposed regulating equity perpetuals under existing security-futures rules, arguing that no new legislation is necessary.

• The group warned that continued regulatory uncertainty will push liquidity, jobs, market data and innovation further offshore.

The Blockchain Association has called on the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to create a coordinated regulatory pathway for equity perpetual contracts in the United States.

In a comment letter, the industry group argued that uncertainty over whether the products fall under securities or commodities law has pushed trading activity, liquidity, and innovation to offshore platforms.

Equity perpetuals are derivatives that track individual stocks but, unlike conventional futures, have no expiration date. Traders can maintain positions indefinitely, while periodic funding payments help keep contract prices aligned with the referenced shares.

The association said the agencies can regulate these products under their existing statutory powers without waiting for Congress to introduce a new framework.

Blockchain Association Warns Liquidity Is Moving Offshore

According to the association, equity perpetuals currently trade exclusively outside the US through centralized exchanges and decentralized blockchain protocols.

That leaves American markets without the price-discovery data generated by funding rates and continuously updated mark prices. It also means the activity sits beyond US investor-protection, asset-segregation, anti-money-laundering and market-surveillance requirements.

The group warned that delaying action could make the market increasingly difficult to repatriate.

Liquidity tends to concentrate on established platforms, while traders develop relationships and habits that strengthen incumbent offshore venues.

Foreign platforms could therefore continue capturing trading fees, market data, jobs, and technological development tied to US-listed stocks.

The absence of domestic oversight may also create risks of manipulation when offshore perpetual contracts reference American equities. Bringing the activity onshore would allow regulators to apply trade-reporting, recordkeeping, and cross-market surveillance rules.

Existing Security Futures Rules Could Provide a Path

The Blockchain Association recommended using the joint regulatory structure created for security futures as the foundation for equity perpetuals.

The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 gave the SEC and CFTC shared jurisdiction over futures linked to individual securities and narrow-based stock indexes.

Eligible products can trade on either SEC-registered national securities exchanges. Or CFTC-regulated designated contract markets, provided the venues satisfy both agencies' requirements.

Those rules cover disclosures, recordkeeping, fraud prevention, audit trails, coordinated surveillance, and customer protection.

The association believes equity perpetuals can fit within that regime despite their cash settlement, funding mechanisms, and lack of expiration dates.

It cited the CFTC's recent approval of a Bitcoin perpetual contract as a futures product. In that decision, the regulator concluded that convergence with the underlying asset's price, rather than a fixed expiry date, is the defining characteristic of a future.

For derivatives that do not fit neatly into existing categories, the group said provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act already allow the agencies to resolve jurisdictional questions and exercise concurrent oversight.

Group Calls for Technology-Neutral Regulation

The association urged regulators to focus on outcomes instead of requiring companies to adopt a predetermined market structure or legacy technology stack.

Its proposed framework would prioritize transparency, auditability, market surveillance, execution integrity, customer asset protection, financial integrity and operational resilience.

Blockchain-based infrastructure could support those goals through tamper-resistant records, automated margining and settlement, programmable access controls and visible transaction histories.

The group said regulators should permit both centralized and appropriately structured decentralized models if they meet equivalent safeguards.

It also recommended allowing direct market access and non-intermediated clearing where participants satisfy conditions covering margin, defaults, disclosures, asset segregation and operational failures.

Separately, the association asked the SEC to consider raising the alternative-compliance threshold under Exchange Act Rule 18a-10 from 10% to as much as 49%.

The change could give firms regulated by both agencies greater flexibility when complying with capital, margin, and segregation requirements.

The group argued that coordinated action now could bring equity perpetuals inside the US regulatory perimeter while preserving investor protections and strengthening American leadership in digital markets.

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