The Singapore Exchange has secured authorization from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission to open its bitcoin and ether perpetual futures to American institutional investors, ending a restriction that had kept US desks out of the contract since its launch. KC Lam, head of crypto derivatives at SGX Group, confirmed the approval, which was granted under the CFTC’s Regulation 48.10 framework for foreign boards of trade.
“Under the Regulation 48.10 ruling, we have obtained CFTC authorization to open our crypto products to US institutional access. Previously, US participants couldn’t trade these contracts but now they can,” Lam told CoinDesk.
A bridge between two liquidity pools
SGX launched its bitcoin (BTP) and ether (ETP) perpetual futures in November 2025, targeting the gap between Asia’s trading hours and the US market. Cumulative volume since launch has reached about $5.8 billion, or roughly 400,000 contracts, through August. Average daily volume stood near 1,300 lots, about $19 million in notional value, with a single-day peak of 11,500 lots worth $145 million.
Bitcoin dominates the book. It accounts for 66% of open interest and 83% of average daily volume, a split that reflects where institutional demand has concentrated so far. Ether makes up the rest, and the exchange has so far resisted adding smaller coins to the lineup.
The exchange pitches the product as a bridge between US trading desks and Asian liquidity pools. US institutions onboarding now typically take two to four weeks for account setup and systems integration, and SGX expects to begin serving the first American clients within one to two months as clearing members complete their work. Lam said the FIS backend integration needed for US clearing members is fully ready, which removes one of the technical blockers that slowed earlier cross-border access plans.
Built like a futures market, not a crypto venue
Unlike the perpetual contracts traded on crypto-native platforms, SGX’s version sits on traditional futures infrastructure. Trading and clearing are separated, and clearing members carry an intermediary risk buffer, the same structure used for SGX’s equity and commodity contracts.
There is no automatic liquidation engine either. The contracts never expire, but instead of the funding-rate liquidations familiar from offshore perps, SGX relies on margin calls and collateral top-ups. A trader who fails to post additional collateral faces the exchange’s standard default procedures rather than an instant programmatic close. For risk officers at banks and hedge funds, that difference matters: default management through a clearinghouse is a process they can model, while liquidation cascades on offshore venues remain hard to predict.
One detail stands out for a crypto product: stablecoins are not accepted as collateral. “They can break peg during volatile periods,” Lam said. That rules out a practice common on crypto-native exchanges, where USDT and USDC sit alongside bitcoin and ether as margin. The benchmark index underpinning the contracts was developed jointly with CoinDesk Indices and is managed under the EU Benchmark Regulation.
What comes next
SGX plans dated futures and options for bitcoin and ether as the next step. Lam described the infrastructure build for those products as the heavy lift, after which adding other major coins becomes, in his words, a straightforward process.
“We plan to broaden our offerings but we are taking a disciplined, step-by-step approach,” he said. Dated contracts would put SGX in more direct competition with CME, whose bitcoin and ether futures remain the dominant regulated venue for US institutions.
Why it matters for the market
The move lands as American institutions gain more regulated paths into crypto derivatives. CME offers bitcoin and ether futures and options, and several US platforms have pushed into perpetual-style products through offshore structures or pending regulatory approvals. SGX is now the first major Asian exchange to pull US institutional flow directly onto its own crypto perps book with CFTC sign-off.
For US desks, the appeal is practical: they can hedge Asian-session price moves in the same instruments that dominate offshore volumes, but with the margin, clearing and audit frameworks they already use for traditional futures. Asia hours often set the tone for bitcoin’s daily direction, and desks that currently hedge that exposure through offshore venues or wait for US market open will have a regulated alternative.
Whether volume follows depends on how quickly clearing members onboard clients and whether SGX can hold liquidity through volatile sessions, the exact periods when a perps hedge matters most. Early signs are modest. Average daily volume of $19 million is a fraction of offshore perps markets, but the authorization removes the ceiling on who can participate.