The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has rescinded its long-running no-deny policy for enforcement settlements, marking a significant shift in how the agency handles crypto enforcement cases. The rule, adopted in 1998, blocked the agency from accepting settlement offers when a defendant continued to deny allegations in a complaint or administrative order. According to reports from crypto.news, Chairman Michael Selig said the Commission had used the rule for nearly three decades and was now moving "consistent with regulators throughout the government." The decision follows a similar shift at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which removed its own no-deny settlement rule in May, ending a policy first adopted in 1972 that limited public denials after enforcement settlements.
Kraken is set to launch the first CFTC-regulated perpetual futures in the US over the course of the next month, marking a historic milestone in bringing crypto derivatives into domestic regulatory framework. According to reports from Financial Times, the launch will be facilitated through Bitnomial, a CFTC-regulated exchange, providing domestic access alongside spot, margin and CME-listed futures. The contracts will be available on Kraken Pro trading platform, allowing access to a unified view of crypto derivatives within a single interface. This development comes after the CFTC approved Kalshi's BTCPERP product as the first regulated Bitcoin perpetual futures contract in the United States on May 29, 2026, establishing a precedent for structured perpetual futures trading within the regulated market.
Coinbase has received approval to connect American customers to global crypto derivatives markets for the first time ever, according to Financial Times reports. The approval allows Coinbase to offer its customers access to the lucrative and highly risky offshore perpetual futures market through Deribit, an offshore crypto options exchange Coinbase acquired for $2.9 billion last year. Perpetual futures are derivatives contracts with no expiration date, which allow traders to place highly leveraged bets on the future price of crypto assets with borrowed capital. The CFTC's latest policy statement, effective May 29, 2026, outlines its approach to listing perpetual contracts, clarifying that this particular product will be treated as a futures contract. The commission emphasizes that perpetual contracts are structurally distinct from traditional futures, raising novel issues in market structure, customer protection, and resilience during stress.
The CFTC's decision to abandon the no-deny policy comes as U.S. market regulators review parts of their crypto enforcement approach. According to crypto.news, crypto firms have long criticized no-deny language, arguing that settlement terms forced companies to stay silent even when they disagreed with agency claims. The timing follows renewed attention on Gemini, which agreed in January 2025 to pay $5 million to settle CFTC charges tied to alleged misleading statements linked to a Bitcoin futures product. As reported by Reuters, the CFTC has since asked a federal judge to vacate the prior order against Gemini, with Gemini agreeing not to seek a refund of the $5 million penalty while the agency now says the false-statement case should not have been brought. Chairman Selig has also described the Gemini case as "politically targeted," according to recent reports.
The filing update and enforcement policy changes come amid rapid growth and regulatory change in crypto derivatives markets. As reported by CoinMarketCap, perpetual futures have historically dominated offshore crypto trading venues because they allow traders to maintain leveraged exposure without fixed contract expirations. The recent approval of regulated Bitcoin perpetual futures products in the U.S. now signals a broader shift toward bringing parts of that market into regulated domestic infrastructure. The CFTC's latest system upgrades could help exchanges process future crypto-related product filings more efficiently as the sector expands. Additionally, prediction markets are experiencing significant growth, with event contract trading surpassing $60 billion in 2026 and notional weekly volume of around $5.8 billion across almost 400,000 active markets. Kalshi, regulated by the CFTC, holds 70 percent of that volume, demonstrating the growing institutional adoption of regulated prediction markets.
