Kalshi Eyes Broader Asset Classes for Perpetual Futures After $5.5B Crypto Launch

After generating $5.5 billion in trading volume in two weeks, Kalshi is pushing to extend its CFTC-regulated perpetual futures beyond crypto into a wider range of asset classes.

Kalshi's perpetual futures business crossed $5.5 billion in trading volume in its first two weeks, according to Bloomberg. That figure lands less than three weeks after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved Kalshi's bitcoin perpetual contract on May 29, making the exchange the first U.S.-registered venue to list true perpetual futures as a futures product.

With 11 crypto-referenced contracts now live, co-founder Tarek Mansour said the company is in talks with regulators about expanding into other asset classes, a move that would reposition Kalshi from a prediction-market platform into a multi-asset derivatives exchange.

The two-week volume figure matters as a proof-of-concept for the regulatory model the CFTC assembled in late May. Alongside approving Kalshi's BTCPERP contract, the commission issued a policy statement establishing that perpetual contracts on asset classes not covered by that initial order will require a voluntary, case-by-case review under Regulation 40.3.

That provision creates the procedural path Kalshi would need to follow to list perps on non-crypto commodities, equity indexes, or foreign exchange pairs. The commission's May 29 advisory on 24/7 trading and clearing addresses the operational requirements those new categories would impose.

The expansion signal fits a pattern Kalshi has been building toward. The company launched a dedicated Commodities Hub in April for event contracts tied to energy, metals, and agricultural markets.

Offshore perpetual futures volumes grew from $28 trillion in annual notional in 2023 to over $90 trillion in 2025, a market inaccessible to U.S.-regulated venues until this spring.

A June 12 CFTC no-action letter enabling other designated contract markets to convert existing perpetual-style digital commodity contracts into true perpetuals before a June 30 deadline signals that additional DCMs are expected to follow. Any Kalshi expansion into equity-index or FX perps would require fresh filings under the Regulation 40.3 process, making the timeline subject to regulatory pace.