TLDR
- Kalshi has partnered with BitGo to let eligible clients borrow against Bitcoin, Ether and compliant stablecoins.
- Kalshi Katalyst will issue the loans, and BitGo Bank & Trust will hold the pledged assets.
- Borrowed funds can be used as margin for perpetual futures on Kalshi’s exchange.
- Kalshi Prime CEO Jeff Bandman says the goal is to let customers “stay in crypto.”
- Kalshi handled about $1.1 billion in perpetuals trading on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg.
Kalshi has partnered with BitGo to offer loans backed by Bitcoin and Ethereum. Eligible clients can use the money to fund leveraged perpetual futures trades. They keep ownership of their crypto while they do it.
Kalshi will let some clients use crypto as collateral for leveraged perpetual-futures trades through a new BitGo arrangement https://t.co/xU2zMGTsHu
— Bloomberg (@business) October 21, 2026
The loans will be offered through Kalshi Prime, the company’s U.S.-registered futures commission merchant. Customers can borrow against digital assets they hold at BitGo. The money can then go toward margin for futures contracts on Kalshi’s main exchange.
Kalshi Katalyst, an affiliate of Kalshi Prime, will issue the loans. The pledged collateral will sit at BitGo Bank & Trust. The setup is known as tri-party collateral management.
In this model, three parties are involved. One takes the loan, one provides it, and a third looks after the pledged assets. This keeps the collateral separate from the lender and the borrower.
Who Can Use the Loans
Kalshi Prime CEO Jeff Bandman said Bitcoin, Ether and stablecoins that meet Genius Act standards will qualify as collateral. He added that other custodians are likely to join the network over time.
The service is aimed at investors who want futures exposure without selling their crypto. “What we wanted to do was make it possible for customers to stay in crypto,” Bandman said.
He named large Bitcoin holders as one target group. He also pointed to a Latin American company that relies on U.S. dollar stablecoins for its operations.
Bandman said the product could also appeal to crypto-native trading firms and large holders, often called whales. Many of these traders already use perpetual futures on offshore markets. Bloomberg reported that this is a group where Kalshi may be at a disadvantage to Polymarket, an offshore, blockchain-based rival.
“I built this because I was thinking about digitally native customers who are active and who might already be trading perpetual futures in some of the unregulated offshore markets,” Bandman said.
Perpetual Futures at Kalshi
Perpetual futures are contracts with no expiration date. Traders can hold a position as long as they meet margin requirements. Kalshi began offering them this year on gold, silver and cryptocurrencies.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved the BTCPERP contract on May 29. Kalshi’s crypto perpetual futures passed $1 billion in trading volume within a week of launch. Before that, U.S. traders had no regulated domestic platform for these contracts.
In September, Kalshi added perpetual futures tied to BNB, ADA and AAVE. The exchange has also asked regulators to approve perpetual-style contracts linked to oil and U.S. equities.
Also in September, Kalshi Klear, the company’s clearinghouse, asked the CFTC for approval to offer leverage on event contracts. Regulated U.S. event contract exchanges now require full collateralization of all positions.
Access to that leverage would be limited to participants who meet Kalshi Klear’s requirements. These include self-clearing members that meet set capital thresholds.
According to Bloomberg, Kalshi processed roughly $1.1 billion of perpetuals trading on Tuesday. The crypto-backed loan program was reported on October 21, 2026.
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