Exchange considers shifting its continuous futures to true perpetual contracts as US regulators open the door
CBOE Global Markets is considering converting its existing Bitcoin and Ether continuous futures into true perpetual futures, a move that would bring one of crypto’s most heavily traded instruments deeper into US-regulated markets following recent regulatory clearance.
The potential conversion was flagged on June 23 by Nate Geraci, president of the ETF Store, who noted that traditional finance incumbents are increasingly being forced to react to crypto-native innovations. CBOE has not formally filed for the conversion or disclosed a timeline.
For context, CBOE launched its continuous Bitcoin and Ether futures on December 15, 2025, under the tickers PBT and PET. The contracts carry 10-year expirations and use a daily cash adjustment mechanism to mimic the behavior of perpetual contracts within a regulated framework, referencing CBOE Kaiko real-time rates. A full conversion to perpetuals would remove even the 10-year expiry, aligning the structure more closely with the offshore products that dominate crypto derivatives trading. Rob Hocking, CBOE’s global head of derivatives, framed the December launch as an effort to bring perpetual-style exposure into a US-regulated environment.
The Regulatory Pathway
The move would follow a major regulatory shift. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved regulated crypto perpetual futures on May 29, 2026, beginning with Kalshi’s bitcoin contract and outlining a pathway for other registered US exchanges. Before that approval, every major perpetual futures market operated offshore on venues such as Binance, Bybit, and OKX.
By design, Perpetual futures have no expiration date and allow traders to hold leveraged positions indefinitely, with periodic funding payments keeping the contract price aligned with the spot market. They are crypto’s most heavily traded product, with offshore perpetual volume reaching roughly $61.7 trillion across exchanges in 2025.
The regulatory approval has triggered conflict among traditional derivatives venues. On June 18, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange sued the CFTC over the perpetual futures approval, arguing the products should be classified as swaps under the Commodity Exchange Act. The May 29 policy change also prompted a repricing of exchange stocks, with CBOE shares falling around 9% in early June as investors weighed the competitive threat to incumbent venues.
Where CBOE Fits
CBOE occupies a middle ground in the market. Its PBT and PET continuous futures already feature daily funding-like adjustments and long-dated maturities, meaning a shift to true perpetuals would be an evolution of an existing design rather than a wholesale product overhaul. Open interest and volume in the two products remain considerably thinner than CME’s bitcoin futures, which typically carry several billion dollars of open interest and stand as the dominant institutional venue for crypto derivatives.
Ultimately if CBOE proceeds, it could pull meaningful trading volume onshore, giving institutional players with compliance mandates that bar offshore venues access to the same product structure crypto-native traders have used for years.
