TLDR
- Ondo Finance filed three comment letters with the SEC and CFTC on Aug. 24, asking regulators to allow perpetual futures tied to individual US stocks under existing security futures rules.
- Its Panama-based affiliate already offers stablecoin-settled stock perpetuals offshore, hitting $8 billion in cumulative volume about six weeks after launch.
- Ondo argues that perpetual contracts do not need a fixed expiration date to qualify as security futures products.
- The SEC and CFTC signed a coordination agreement in March and are reviewing how existing rules apply to onchain derivatives and tokenized securities.
- Hyperliquid’s HYPE token rose over 20% after President Trump said regulators were working to bring the platform to the US legally.
Ondo Finance has asked US regulators to bring perpetual futures tied to individual stocks into the American market, saying current laws are already broad enough to cover them.
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@OndoFinance is making a direct push to bring stock perpetual futures onshore under existing SEC & CFTC frameworks.
The breakdown:
=> 24/7 equity leverage on-chain
=> Direct bridge between Wall… pic.twitter.com/becjTfx30W— Whale Factor (@WhaleFactor) September 3, 2026
The company sent three comment letters to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Aug. 24. It argued that no new legislation is needed to accommodate stock perpetual futures.
What Ondo Is Asking For
Ondo wants the SEC and CFTC to treat perpetual stock futures as security futures products under existing rules. Its letters cover product classification, margin requirements, and the use of blockchain-based pricing data.
A key argument is that a perpetual contract does not need a fixed expiration date to qualify as a security futures product. Traditional futures settle on a set date. Perpetuals use recurring funding payments instead to keep their price close to the underlying stock.
When a perpetual trades above the reference price, traders holding long positions pay those holding short positions. The payments reverse when the contract trades below the reference price. Ondo says this mechanism performs the same economic function as expiration in a traditional futures contract.
The company’s Panama-based affiliate already offers these products to eligible users outside the United States. The platform settled trades in stablecoins and recorded $8 billion in cumulative trading volume by Aug. 14, roughly six weeks after launch.
Regulatory Background
The SEC and CFTC signed a memorandum of understanding in March to coordinate oversight in areas where their authority overlaps. Security futures fall into that category because the SEC oversees securities markets and the CFTC regulates US futures venues.
Ondo is not the only firm making this push. The Hyperliquid Policy Center filed a similar request on Aug. 24. It said Hyperliquid’s equity perpetual markets had processed more than $480 billion in cumulative notional volume in their first 10 months.
President Trump said in August that CFTC Chair Michael Selig was working to bring Hyperliquid to the US in a fully compliant way. Following those comments, Hyperliquid’s HYPE token rose more than 20% and is up nearly 49% over the past month, trading around $81.
Former SEC counsel Ashley Ebersole said creating a US regulatory pathway for onchain perpetuals could take 10 to 12 months if agencies pursue formal rulemaking, though it could move faster if regulators lean on existing authority.
On Tuesday, the SEC also proposed updating its transfer agent rules to address blockchain-based recordkeeping and tokenized securities.
Ondo ranks fourth among tokenized real-world asset managers with about $2.6 billion in distributed value, according to RWA.xyz.
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