On May 29, 2026, two very different firms made history. Coinbase, the giant public crypto exchange, and Kalshi, the prediction-market specialist, both won clearance to offer perpetual futures tied to bitcoin and other digital assets. For the first time, American traders can access these popular instruments on platforms overseen by U.S. regulators. Perpetual futures, or perps, track the price of an underlying asset without ever expiring. Traders hold positions as long as they want. Funding rates keep the contract price aligned with the spot market. Leverage often runs high. Gains and losses multiply fast. Until now such contracts lived almost entirely offshore. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission changed that. It approved KalshiEX LLC to list a bitcoin perpetual contract called BTCPERP. At the same time the agency issued a no-action letter to Coinbase Financial Markets. The letter lets the firm offer digital commodity derivatives without immediate enforcement risk. Reuters reported the announcements .…