Kalshi to offer perpetual futures contracts in prediction market expansion

Driving the news: Kalshi said it will become "the first company in American history to offer perpetuals" and that they will be "fully regulated" by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which has been consistently supportive of surging prediction markets.

• "This marks Kalshi's evolution from prediction market leader to next-gen derivatives exchange," Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour said in a statement. "Onshore, safe, and regulated perps will improve capital allocation and risk management for countless American businesses."

The intrigue: The announcement comes the same day the CFTC said it would permit perp listings tied to bitcoin.

• The commission — which currently has only one member, chair Michael Selig, who was appointed by President Trump — said it would review other perp contracts on a "case-by-case" basis.

What's next: Kalshi said it plans to launch crypto perps on more than a dozen currencies after landing regulatory approval.

• It will not offer perps on agricultural commodities.

💭 Thought bubble via Axios Pro Rata author Dan Primack: "Kalshi appears locked in a battle with Polymarket, but its product is leaps and bounds ahead for U.S. users. Not only because of today's announcement, which puts it in a new product category entirely, but also because Polymarket's U.S. app currently offers nothing beyond sports."