Singapore Exchange has secured authorization from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to give eligible U.S. institutional investors direct access to its Bitcoin and Ether perpetual futures. American trading firms can access the contracts through SGX clearing members, with onboarding typically taking two to four weeks.
The contracts have recorded $5.8 billion in cumulative volume since launching in November 2025. SGX said it plans to grow the product range with dated Bitcoin and Ether futures and options, giving institutional traders more ways to manage crypto exposure through its derivatives market.
SGX opens Bitcoin and Ether perpetual futures to US institutions.
The Singapore Exchange has secured CFTC authorization under Regulation 48.10, with its crypto perps already recording $5.8 billion in cumulative volume since launching in November 2025.
— Selcoin Global (@selcoinglobal) September 10, 2026
Why perpetual futures are becoming important to crypto markets
Perpetual futures have become one of the main instruments for discovering where traders expect crypto prices to move. Unlike conventional futures, they do not expire, so traders do not have to repeatedly close and replace positions to maintain exposure.
That structure also concentrates liquidity. Instead of splitting trading activity between contracts expiring in September, December or March, a perpetual market keeps positions in one continuing contract. The funding mechanism then helps keep the derivative price aligned with the underlying asset. The CFTC has shown those features in its review of perpetual products, including their potential use for hedging and price discovery.
The importance of that market is visible in current U.S. derivatives data. As of September 1, Coinbase Derivatives’ nano Bitcoin perpetual had 173,212 contracts of open interest, while its nano Ether perpetual had 371,191. The CFTC data also shows substantial positions held by leveraged funds and other reportable traders.
This gives perpetuals a role beyond speculation. A fund holding Bitcoin can use them to reduce market exposure without immediately selling its spot holdings, while a market maker can use derivatives to manage inventory and price risk.
That is why the growth of regulated perpetuals matters for the market itself. As more professional traders use the contracts for hedging and positioning, derivatives prices can have a greater influence on how the wider crypto market is priced.
Can Singapore challenge the dominance of US crypto derivatives?
SGX’s bigger opportunity is establishing itself as another major venue for institutional crypto risk. The traditional derivatives industry is already spread across financial centres such as Chicago, London and Singapore, with exchanges competing for trading volume by offering different contracts, clearing arrangements and access to global clients. Crypto is increasingly following that pattern.
The timing is notable because the CFTC has recently certified a growing list of perpetual products. Its records show certified contracts linked to Ether, Solana, XRP, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Avalanche and Chainlink, among others, with several approvals dated September 2.
That creates a much larger competitive field than Bitcoin and Ether alone. Singapore sits between major Asian financial markets and has long served as a hub for institutional trading and clearing. A successful crypto derivatives business would give global firms another regulated venue for managing positions across Asian trading hours.
But SGX still has to prove that institutional traders will use it at scale. Its U.S. authorization removes an access barrier, but only sustained liquidity, competitive costs and reliable execution can turn that permission into a meaningful share of global crypto derivatives trading.
Users see institutional crypto access expanding
Nexo pointed to the continued expansion of institutional access to crypto, seeing SGX’s approval as another sign that professional investors are getting more routes into the market. Along the same lines, Travis described the development as a “big bridge for institutional crypto,” highlighting its potential to connect traditional financial markets with digital assets.
That view was supported by Joe, who said the approval “will definitely accelerate institutional adoption significantly.” Meanwhile, Jack focused on the product itself, arguing that “perpetuals are going mainstream fast” as these contracts gain greater acceptance beyond crypto-native trading platforms.
Meanwhile, Singapore is moving to give stablecoin issuers a dedicated licence under proposed amendments to the Payment Services Act. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) would allow only licensed issuers that meet its requirements to market their tokens as “MAS-regulated stablecoins.”
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