Singapore Exchange wins CFTC approval to offer crypto perpetual futures to US institutions

The Singapore Exchange just became the first major Asian bourse to crack open its crypto perpetual futures market to US institutional money. SGX received authorization from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission under Regulation 48.10, a pathway that lets US institutions trade on a foreign exchange without that exchange having to register domestically.

The practical effect: American hedge funds, asset managers, and proprietary trading firms will soon be able to tap directly into Asian crypto liquidity pools from their existing setups. No new exchange memberships, no offshore entity gymnastics. Just onboarding through SGX’s current clearing members, which is expected to take two to four weeks, with live trading access following within one to two months.

What SGX is actually offering

The products in question are Bitcoin perpetual futures (BTP) and Ether perpetual futures (ETP), contracts that never expire and instead use periodic funding rates to keep prices tethered to the spot market. The difference here is that SGX wraps these instruments in the full infrastructure of a regulated securities exchange: traditional margin calls, collateral top-ups, and central clearing.

One notable detail: SGX does not accept stablecoins as collateral. That’s a deliberate choice that reinforces the traditional finance guardrails around these products and separates them from the DeFi-adjacent collateral practices common on offshore platforms.

The contracts launched on November 24, 2025, and have already built meaningful traction. Cumulative traded volume reached $5.8 billion, roughly 400,000 lots, by the time the CFTC authorization was announced. Peak daily volume hit 11,500 lots in a single session, equivalent to about $145 million changing hands in one day.

Open interest stood at 1,300 lots, approximately $19 million, at the end of August 2026. Bitcoin accounts for 66% of open interest, while commanding 83% of average daily trading volume.

Why Regulation 48.10 matters

Regulation 48.10 allows the CFTC to authorize foreign boards of trade to offer their products to US persons, provided the foreign exchange meets certain regulatory standards. It’s the same framework that has historically allowed US traders to access commodities markets in London or Tokyo.

Perpetuals have been the most traded crypto derivative globally for years, dwarfing the volume of traditional dated futures on CME. Yet they’ve existed almost entirely outside the US regulatory perimeter. CME doesn’t list them. Neither does any other CFTC-regulated US exchange.

By listing the products on a well-regulated foreign exchange and then obtaining CFTC authorization for US access, SGX achieves something that no domestic venue has managed: giving US institutions a regulated way to trade the single most popular crypto derivative instrument on the planet.

Competitive implications and what comes next

For CME Group, which has dominated regulated crypto futures in the US with its dated Bitcoin and Ether contracts, this introduces a new competitive dynamic. US desks that previously had to choose between CME’s regulated products and offshore perpetuals now have a middle path.

SGX is not stopping at perpetuals either. The exchange is working on expanding its crypto lineup to include dated Bitcoin and Ether futures alongside options products.

The $5.8 billion in cumulative volume SGX has already attracted suggests there’s real appetite from Asian and international institutions for exchange-traded crypto perpetuals. SGX’s decision to stick with traditional collateral frameworks rather than accepting stablecoins looks like a deliberate hedge against regulatory scrutiny.

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