Kalshi is intensifying its bid to become the regulated U.S. home for crypto perpetual futures, pairing a new bitcoin-backed lending arrangement with digital-asset custodian BitGo and a distribution deal that will place its perpetual contracts in front of Webull's more than 6 million customers.

Bloomberg first reported Wednesday that customers of Kalshi Prime, the company's U.S.-registered futures commission merchant, will be able to borrow against digital assets held at BitGo and use the proceeds to fund margin positions on perpetual futures traded on Kalshi's main exchange.

Under the tri-party structure, the loans will be issued by Kalshi Katalyst, a lending affiliate of Kalshi Prime, and secured against assets held at BitGo Bank & Trust, the firm's federally chartered trust bank. Eligible collateral will include bitcoin, ethereum and stablecoins deemed compliant with the GENIUS Act, the federal stablecoin framework enacted in 2025, with additional custodians expected to join Kalshi's network over time.

Perpetual futures themselves are derivatives with no fixed expiration date, allowing positions to run as long as margin requirements are met — a structure that has long been a staple of unregulated offshore crypto exchanges and had no U.S.-regulated counterpart until this year.

Kalshi Prime CEO Jeff Band told the outlet that the product was designed with crypto-native traders in mind, including those already active on unregulated offshore perpetuals venues and large holders who would rather not sell their bitcoin to fund futures positions. He also pointed to unexpected demand from businesses, such as Latin American firms that run their operations on U.S. dollar stablecoins.

The move targets a segment in which Kalshi has acknowledged a structural disadvantage against Polymarket, its offshore, blockchain-based rival, which has long catered to crypto whales and trading firms that prefer to keep their capital in digital assets. The two platforms have been racing to build out perpetuals since the spring.

Webull to Debut Crypto-Linked Perpetual Futures via Kalshi Rails

The BitGo arrangement landed a day after Webull announced Tuesday that eligible U.S. customers will be able to trade perpetual futures on its platform beginning in November, starting with bitcoin and a handful of other crypto assets.

The contracts will trade on KalshiEX LLC, Kalshi's CFTC-regulated designated contract market, and clear through Kalshi Klear LLC, the company's derivatives clearing organization. Access will initially be limited to customers already approved for futures trading through existing Webull Futures accounts, with broader availability expected before year-end.

Webull Group President and U.S. CEO Anthony Denier said in the company's release that perpetual futures saw more than $90 trillion in global volume in 2025 and that American investors should be able to access them through a regulated platform.

The two announcements extend a sweeping product buildout for Kalshi, which secured CFTC clearance for the first U.S.-regulated bitcoin perpetual in late May and went live with the contract in early June, before adding gold and silver perpetuals in September and a US500 stock index perpetual earlier this month.

The expansion comes amid mounting state-level legal pressure, with Utah becoming the latest state to sue Kalshi on Monday over what it alleges is illegal sports gambling, following New York's similar action against Polymarket last month. Those cases remain pending, and with Webull's broader access due before year-end and additional custodians expected on the lending network, the months ahead offer concrete markers for how the regulated-perpetuals buildout progresses.

This article first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.