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Crypto.com and its derivatives partner OG.com began offering crypto perpetual futures to eligible US customers on Tuesday, with leverage of up to 5x and no expiration dates. The contracts trade around the clock through the Crypto.com app and exchange.
The structure splits the regulated roles. Crypto.com recently registered with the National Futures Association as an introducing broker, which lets it distribute the products. OG.com's exchange operates as a designated contract market and derivatives clearing organization, and its broker arm is registered with the CFTC as a futures commission merchant. The launch covers crypto perpetuals only. Crypto.com founder and chief executive Kris Marszalek, who also leads OG.com, said traders now have direct access to continuous liquidity, flexible leverage and built-in risk controls.
Offshore venues offer far higher leverage, which is the gap the regulated US products are trying to close. CFTC Chair Mike Selig has said US-regulated crypto derivatives exchanges currently offer around 7x or less. The CFTC's October advance notice on retail leveraged crypto transactions is a separate track, covering coins bought on margin or financing. A 5x cap on a cleared futures product sits under the ceiling Selig described, and the notice does not set a leverage cap of its own.
Nadex, the exchange operating under OG.com, registered with the SEC last month to trade security futures, and Marszalek has said the company is working with the SEC and CFTC on single-stock perpetual futures, suggesting that Crypto.com is also looking beyond crypto.
The launch follows the CFTC's decision in May to open the US market to crypto perpetuals. In June, the agency had outlined a framework for registered platforms, approved Kalshi to list bitcoin perpetuals and gave Coinbase's US customers access to its global perpetual futures through an affiliate. Kalshi and Polymarket have also entered the market, which Blockhead covered when prediction markets became crypto perps platforms. Kraken launched regulated perpetuals in June after closing its $550 million purchase of the Bitnomial exchange, and Blockhead reported on September 30 that Robinhood brought leveraged crypto perpetuals to US customers.
Crypto.com's arrival is also tied to Robinhood in a second way. In September, Blockhead reported that Robinhood picked OG.com to run its prediction markets and took equity stakes in Crypto.com and OG.com. The two companies now work together on prediction markets and compete on perpetuals.
With several regulated US venues now offering perpetuals, the questions shift from access to differentiation: fees, margin rules, contract menus and how much liquidity each pool gathers. This week, we asked whether the perp future has a future in a market this crowded.
Crypto.com has not said how many customers are eligible at launch or which states are excluded, and the first weeks of volume should show whether another entrant adds users or only splits them.
