Coinbase, Kalshi, and four other firms asked a federal court on November 9 for permission to defend the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), pushing back against early judicial skepticism over the regulator's approval of single-stock perpetual futures. Payward, DRW Holdings, Jump Trading, and Paradigm joined the two companies in the proposed brief, which seeks leave to submit arguments backing the agency. Such filings, known as amicus briefs, allow non-parties to a case to offer legal arguments for the court's consideration. The six firms maintain that equity perpetuals qualify as security futures rather than security-based swaps — a distinction that determines which regulator oversees the products. Their filing follows a federal judge's questions about the CFTC's authority over the products, which track individual equities without fixed expiration dates.

The filing responds to a lawsuit by the Capital Markets Alliance, which argues that equity perpetuals fall under the exclusive authority of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The alliance alleges that the CFTC failed to explain its approvals or adequately assess investor risks.

Judge Questions CFTC Authority but Denies Emergency Relief

On November 3, Judge Valerie Caproni denied the alliance's request for a temporary restraining order. However, she found the association likely to succeed on its central jurisdictional claim, reasoning that contracts without future delivery might not satisfy the statutory definition of security futures under federal law.

The judge rejected the emergency relief because the association had not demonstrated likely irreparable harm. Her ruling did not decide the lawsuit's final merits, and the association continues to seek a preliminary injunction against the approvals — a step that, if granted, would block the approvals while the litigation runs its course.

Industry Brief Cites Joint Oversight and Existing Listings

The companies counter that Congress established joint SEC-CFTC oversight of security futures in 2000. Their brief argues that futures contracts need not carry fixed expiration dates, citing earlier federal decisions that recognized futures contracts of indefinite duration.

The filing also disputes claims that the SEC was excluded from the approval process. Both agencies requested public comments, and exchanges submitted listing standards to the SEC — steps the firms say support the products' treatment under existing securities futures rules.

Coinbase Derivatives, KalshiEX, and Bitnomial submitted their applications in September. According to the filing, regulatory inaction resulted in deemed approvals on November 2, a mechanism under which applications take effect automatically when the regulator does not act on them. Payward owns Bitnomial, while DRW, Jump Trading, and Paradigm hold trading interests in the market, meaning the legal challenge now concerns products already entering U.S. markets. Both the request for leave to file the brief and the alliance's preliminary injunction motion remain pending before the court.

Kalshi announced single-stock perpetual trading on November 5, referencing more than 50 companies. CFTC records separately list approved Kalshi contracts linked to Tesla and Nvidia, and the regulator also lists Coinbase-linked equity perpetual contracts certified on November 5. Certification does not establish trading activity.

As CoinCentral previously reported, the CFTC announced that such contracts could begin trading on registered exchanges, with Chairman Michael Selig describing joint oversight by both market regulators.