Coinbase, Kalshi and four other financial firms have entered a legal fight on behalf of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), urging a federal court to affirm the regulator's authority to oversee single-stock perpetual futures in the United States.

On November 9, 2026, the six firms asked the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for leave to file a friend-of-the-court brief — a filing by non-parties that offers the court additional arguments and perspective. The intervention responds to a lawsuit contesting the CFTC's approval of perpetual contracts tied to individual U.S. stocks; the underlying docket is accessible via Justia.

Six Firms Line Up Behind the Regulator

The coalition backing the CFTC comprises Coinbase, Kalshi, Payward (the parent company of Kraken), DRW Holdings, Jump Trading and Paradigm. Their proposed brief, reported by CoinDesk, counters the preliminary injunction sought by the Capital Markets Alliance Association (CMAA), a trade group whose membership includes Cboe and Citadel Securities. CMAA contends that the CFTC overstepped its legal authority.

The dispute turns on how single-stock perpetual futures are classified. Unlike conventional futures contracts, perpetuals carry no fixed expiration date and allow traders to gain exposure to stock price movements without purchasing the underlying shares. CMAA argues that the instruments qualify as security-based swaps, which would place them under the jurisdiction of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The six firms counter that existing federal law permits their classification as security futures. Whichever reading prevails will determine which agency sets the oversight regime for stock-linked perpetuals and the pathway future product launches must follow.

Early Rulings Leave Core Question Open

The litigation follows regulatory approvals that took effect on November 2, 2026, when applications involving Coinbase Derivatives, KalshiEX and Bitnomial Exchange cleared the applicable regulatory process.

On November 3, U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni denied CMAA's request for a temporary restraining order, while indicating that the association was likely to succeed on its central legal argument. The court withheld emergency relief because CMAA failed to establish a likelihood of irreparable harm. As a result, the ruling left the broader dispute over regulatory authority unresolved.

Stakes for Crypto-Native Trading Firms

In their filing, the six companies maintain that both the CFTC and the SEC participated in the regulatory process, and that single-stock perpetual futures can operate within the existing framework for security futures.

The case may influence how cryptocurrency exchanges expand into traditional financial markets. Perpetual futures are already an established trading product in crypto markets, making their introduction to U.S. equities commercially significant.

For now, the court must weigh the competing legal arguments before deciding whether to restrict the disputed approvals. The near-term item to watch is the court's ruling on CMAA's preliminary injunction request, which would determine whether the November 2 approvals remain in effect while the case proceeds. The outcome could shape regulatory oversight of stock-linked perpetual derivatives and future product launches.