Coinbase, Kraken Back CFTC in Legal Fight Over Stock-Based Perpetuals

legal fight — Major crypto exchange Coinbase, Kraken’s parent company, and derivatives platform Kalshi have thrown their weight behind the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in a legal dispute over stock-based perpetual futures contracts.

The CFTC sued the Capital Markets Alliance in October 2026, alleging the company offered unregistered commodity futures contracts tied to the stocks of companies like Tesla and GameStop.

The alliance contends these perpetual futures, synthetic derivatives that track a stock’s price, are securities and should fall under the Securities and Exchange Commission’s jurisdiction.

The industry players, in a joint court filing, sided with the CFTC’s view that the derivatives are commodities and not securities, highlighting the ongoing regulatory turf war over novel financial products in the digital asset space.