Singapore Exchange Ltd. is pushing to let US institutions trade its crypto perpetual futures, after lodging a filing with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the past month. As a registered overseas exchange, SGX is permitted to make the products available to US institutional investors unless the agency objects within 10 days.
If it clears that process, SGX would be the first large, established exchange to usher one of crypto's hallmark trades into the mainstream. After listing Bitcoin and Ether perps last November, the exchange plans to court a wider spectrum of institutions, including hedge funds, asset managers, and prop trading firms.
Perpetual futures, or perps, let traders use leverage without dealing with contract expirations. As regulators warm up to the idea, more traditional exchanges are rolling out their own takes, vying for share in a derivatives market that tallies hundreds of billions of dollars in monthly turnover.
Putting perps on a traditional venue means some crypto-native quirks get smoothed out. SGX lists them for 22.5 hours each weekday rather than nonstop. Members must post 35% margin and fund positions with fiat collateral, and the exchange does not employ the automatic deleveraging features common on some crypto platforms.
Even though the underlying tokens trade 24/7, SGX says that is fine given who it is targeting. "We are going after institutions, accredited investors, expert investors - those types of profile of customers who are not trading on the weekend," said KC Lam, who leads crypto derivatives at SGX, in an interview.
Liquidity today still skews heavily toward crypto-native venues. The decentralized platform Hyperliquid sees roughly $80 billion to $100 billion in monthly trading on Bitcoin and Ether perps. SGX, by comparison, has logged about $6 billion in total activity across its perpetuals since launch. Opening the door to US institutions will test whether access to a larger institutional base can help narrow that divide.
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"The US has one of the biggest institutional participation in the crypto space - be it in futures, ETFs," Lam said. "I think it's a natural thing for us to pivot to." He expects volumes to build from there: "Liquidity begets liquidity," he said. "So more people will come and trade."
In August, SGX recorded 29,655 Bitcoin perp contracts and 6,758 Ether perp contracts, bringing the combined total for the year's first eight months to 353,825. Lam also pitched the time-zone edge for American clients: "Now after US hours, we could actually be a good complement to what they have," he said.
Historically, US investors reached perps via offshore venues. That began to shift in May when the CFTC signed off on the first true Bitcoin perpetual contract listed on Kalshi, which is a CFTC‑registered prediction market and exchange operator. CFTC Chairman Michael Selig called the decision "a step toward bringing one of crypto's most liquid market segments into the US regulatory framework."
Perps' appeal has grown alongside platforms including Hyperliquid, a venue where users trade contracts tied to everything from names like SpaceX to commodities including oil and gold. The boom has even caught President Donald Trump's eye; in August he stated that Selig was taking steps to move Hyperliquid into the US "in a fully compliant and legal fashion," though he offered no firm pledge or timeline.
Competition is heating up. In May, Coinbase announced that its US‑regulated futures commission merchant was positioned to provide institutional clients with the ability to trade crypto perpetuals and options across global markets. Earlier this month, Coinbase revealed it had submitted a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission to list equity‑based perps. The company has said derivatives account for 80% of worldwide crypto trading volume.
SGX is wagering it can secure a niche as a multi‑asset venue for professional traders, letting institutions handle crypto side by side with equity, interest rate, currency, and commodity derivatives.
The bottom line: If SGX clears the CFTC review, US institutions get another regulated path into perps on a traditional exchange. That could shift where liquidity gathers, influence leverage in the system, and change when price moves cluster. For your money, keep an eye on whether new US access pulls more flow onto regulated venues, which can affect spreads, pricing signals, and how risk gets managed across the other assets you already trade.
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