CFTC Approves Stock Perpetual Futures: What Finance Teams Need
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has approved perpetual futures contracts tied to individual stocks for the first time, and that matters well beyond trading desks. A product with no expiry date, priced around the clock, lands directly on the work of controllers, auditors and CFOs, which is why crypto accounting software now has to handle derivative-style positions as comfortably as spot balances. This article sets out what the source reports, what it leaves open, and what finance teams should prepare now.
What the CFTC approved and what we know
On Tuesday, CFTC Chair Michael Selig greenlit the ability for US platforms to offer perpetual futures contracts linked to individual stocks. According to The Block's report, this is the first time such trading has been cleared in the United States. Selig described the move as a significant step towards allowing US market participants, consistent with applicable law, to use perpetual futures, which he characterised as widely sought tools for risk management and price discovery.
It helps to be precise about what a perpetual future is. It is a derivatives contract with no expiration date, and it lets people take a position on the price movement of an asset without owning that asset directly. Here the underlying is an individual stock rather than a token or a commodity.
The path to this decision
The approval did not come out of nowhere. The source describes a sequence of steps over the past year. The agency first opened the door to perpetual-style products in the US when its staff cleared KalshiEX and Coinbase to list them. In June, the CFTC then published a request for comment on crude oil perpetual contracts and on 24/7 trading. The new stock perpetual approval follows those moves.
The source also ties the growth of perpetuals to market events earlier this year. It reports that perpetual contracts surged in popularity after supply-chain disruption in the Middle East at the onset of the war, following US and Israeli missile strikes on Iran that triggered supply shocks. Because that happened over a weekend, traditional markets were closed, while platforms that operate 24/7 kept trading, so much of the activity took place onchain.
The political backdrop
Perpetuals have also drawn attention from the White House. The source notes that in August, President Trump said he wanted the CFTC to work to bring Hyperliquid into the US. Selig also referred to a framework that recognises the complementary roles of the CFTC and the SEC in overseeing American financial markets, and described it as a pathway for innovation at the intersection of those regimes.
What the source does not tell us
The report is short on operating detail, and we should not fill the gaps with assumptions. It does not name which exchanges will list stock perpetuals first, does not describe margin or leverage rules, does not set out eligibility criteria for customers, and does not explain how the CFTC and SEC split responsibility for a contract that references an equity. Finance teams should treat those as open questions to confirm against the CFTC's own materials and exchange rulebooks before building policy.
Why this matters for crypto accounting software
Most crypto ledgers were designed around spot holdings: tokens in, tokens out, cost basis and disposals. A stock perpetual is a different animal. It is a derivative position whose value is driven by an equity price, and whose economics typically include continuous payments between long and short holders rather than a single settlement at expiry. Even where the exact funding mechanics differ by venue, the accounting team needs a place to record them, and the place has to be the system of record.
Classification comes first
Before any number is booked, the firm has to decide what the instrument is. For a fund, a corporate treasury or a market maker, an open perpetual position is generally a derivative exposure, not a holding of the underlying stock. The ledger therefore needs a distinct instrument type, separate from spot tokens and separate from equities held outright. If your digital asset accounting software only offers a single asset class field, positions will end up misdescribed, and that error propagates into valuation, disclosures and tax.
The reporting framework that applies depends on the entity. A US entity reporting under US GAAP will look to its derivatives guidance, while a group with IFRS reporting will apply its own financial instruments standards. This source does not address either framework, so the point here is simply that the policy decision must be documented before the first trade, not discovered at quarter end.
Valuation and the always-on market
Perpetuals trade continuously. The source makes the point that much of the recent perpetual activity happened while traditional markets were shut, because platforms running 24/7 stayed open. For accountants, this raises a practical question about cut-off. A period-end valuation needs a defensible price at the reporting timestamp, and for a contract that references a stock, the reference equity market may be closed while the perpetual still prints prices. Teams should decide in advance which price source they use, document why, and apply it consistently. A valuation policy that reads well on paper but cannot be reproduced from the ledger will not survive an audit request.
Funding flows and fees
Even without venue-specific detail from the source, any perpetual position will generate a stream of small, frequent cash or token movements: margin postings, realised and unrealised gains and losses, trading fees and periodic payments. Each of these needs its own account mapping. Bookkeeping software for crypto should be able to ingest them from exchange statements or APIs, tag them correctly and avoid lumping them into a generic "trading" line. The more granular the capture, the easier it is to reconcile to the venue's statements later.
Implications for accounting firms and CFOs
For B2B readers, the approval is less about whether to trade stock perpetuals and more about whether the finance function can support them if the business, a client or a counterparty does.
For accounting and audit firms
Clients who already hold digital assets will ask whether they can use US-regulated perpetuals for hedging or exposure. Advisory teams should be ready to answer three questions. First, what is the accounting classification and where does hedge accounting, if elected, fit? Second, which evidence will the auditor expect for existence, completeness and valuation of open positions? Third, how will the client reconcile exchange statements to the ledger on a continuous product?
The audit evidence point deserves emphasis. Spot balances can be verified against wallet addresses or custodian confirmations. A derivative position sits on an exchange's books, so the auditor will lean on exchange confirmations, statements and the quality of the client's reconciliations. A firm that cannot show a clean, time-stamped trail from the venue to the general ledger is handing the auditor a reason to widen testing.
For CFOs and treasurers
Treasury teams should resist the idea that a new product is simply a new ticker. The questions to settle before trading are governance ones: who is authorised to open positions, what limits apply, how are margin calls funded, and who reviews marks. A product that trades through the weekend also needs an out-of-hours escalation path. If a position moves sharply on a Saturday, the policy should say who sees it and what they can do.
It also pays to separate the regulatory question from the accounting one. The CFTC approval says US platforms may offer the contracts. It does not tell your auditor how to treat them, and it does not change your own risk appetite. Selig's own wording is cautious, referring to market participants acting consistent with applicable law. That qualifier is a reminder that eligibility, suitability and registration questions sit with each firm and each venue.
Tax and reporting considerations
The source contains no tax guidance, so nothing here should be read as a statement of how the IRS treats stock perpetuals. What can be said safely is that a new derivative class creates new reporting questions: how gains and losses are characterised, how funding payments are treated, whether year-end positions are marked, and what information the venue will issue to customers. Firms should watch for official guidance and for the information-reporting practices of the venues themselves, and should keep position-level records granular enough to support whichever treatment is eventually confirmed. Individual filers who trade these products themselves will face the same open questions, and should retain complete statements from any platform they use.
AML, controls and data integrity
New trading venues and products bring a compliance workload alongside the accounting one, and the CFTC context matters here. For a view of the agency's thinking on supervision, see our piece on the CFTC chair's stance on offshore exchange oversight, which shows how the regulator frames the case for US-regulated venues.
Counterparty and venue due diligence
A US-regulated listing venue is not automatically a low-risk counterparty. Finance teams should still record which entity holds margin, how customer assets are segregated, and what happens to open positions if the venue halts trading. These details drive both the accounting for margin balances, which may be restricted cash or a receivable depending on the arrangement, and the disclosure of counterparty risk.
Reconciliation as a control
The control that matters most for a continuously priced product is reconciliation frequency. A monthly reconciliation of a spot wallet may be adequate. For a leveraged or margined derivative position, a monthly check may leave too long a window in which a mismatch can hide. Many teams will want daily or at least weekly reconciliation of positions, margin and cash to venue statements, with exceptions logged and cleared. Good crypto accounting software should make that cadence sustainable by pulling statements automatically, matching them to ledger entries and flagging breaks for review.
Audit trail and segregation of duties
Because positions can change quickly, the audit trail should capture who initiated a trade, who approved limits and who booked the entries. Segregation matters most where the person trading can also edit the ledger. Role-based permissions and an immutable log in your digital asset accounting software are the practical way to demonstrate that separation to an auditor. The same discipline applies in tokenised markets more broadly, which we cover in how the DTCC tokenization push affects finance teams.
What to do now: a practical checklist
Nothing in the source says these products are live for your clients today, so the sensible move is preparation, not panic. The steps below are ones a finance team can complete without waiting for further regulatory detail.
Steps for the next 30 days
First, add a derivative or perpetual instrument type to your chart of accounts and your asset taxonomy, kept separate from spot tokens and from equities held outright. Second, draft a valuation policy that names the price source, the timestamp convention and the fallback when the reference market is closed. Third, map every expected cash flow, including margin, fees, funding-type payments and realised and unrealised results, to specific accounts. Fourth, set a reconciliation cadence and an owner. Fifth, write down who may open positions and under what limits.
Questions to ask your software vendor
Whether you use crypto bookkeeping software or a broader platform, ask direct questions. Does it support derivative instrument types distinct from spot? Can it ingest exchange statements for margined products? Does it keep position-level history with timestamps? Can it export a reconciliation report an auditor will accept? Does it support role-based permissions and an immutable log? Vendors that answer in generalities are telling you something.
Watch list
Track four things: the CFTC's own announcement and any accompanying staff documents, the rulebooks and disclosures of the venues that list these contracts, any joint or separate position from the SEC, and any tax guidance on characterisation and reporting. The source notes that the CFTC has been moving step by step, from staff clearances to a request for comment on crude oil perpetuals and 24/7 trading, so further announcements are plausible. For the broader compliance framework these items sit in, see our overview of crypto compliance and reporting.
The bottom line for finance leaders
The approval is a regulatory milestone with an accounting tail. It shows US regulators prepared to let perpetual contracts, a product class that grew up largely on 24/7 onchain venues, be offered in the US, now extending to individual stocks. For finance teams, the work is unglamorous and concrete: classify the instrument, fix the valuation source, capture every flow, reconcile often and keep a clean audit trail. Firms that put those foundations in place before the first client request will handle the product calmly. Firms that wait will be retrofitting policy under audit pressure.
FAQ
What exactly did the CFTC approve?
According to The Block, CFTC Chair Michael Selig greenlit the ability for US platforms to offer perpetual futures contracts tied to individual stocks, the first time this has been approved in the US. Perpetuals have no expiry date and let people take a position on price movements without owning the asset directly.
Does this change how I account for crypto I already hold?
No. Spot holdings are unaffected. The change creates a new product that, if your business or clients use it, needs its own instrument classification, valuation approach and reconciliation process in the ledger.
Is there tax guidance on stock perpetual futures?
The source contains none, so we cannot say how gains, losses or funding-type payments will be treated. Keep complete position-level records and watch for official guidance from the tax authority and for information-reporting practices from the venues.
Why does 24/7 trading matter for period-end reporting?
Perpetuals can trade while the market for the reference stock is closed. Teams need a documented price source and timestamp convention so the period-end valuation can be reproduced and defended to an auditor.
What should crypto accounting software support for these products?
At minimum: a derivative instrument type separate from spot, ingestion of exchange statements covering margin, fees and realised and unrealised results, timestamped position history, exportable reconciliations, and role-based permissions with an audit log.
Source: The Block