Daily Crypto Briefs 
WASHINGTON, Aug. 18, 2026
Kalshi has filed proposed perpetual futures tied to a broad U.S. stock index and copper with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, extending the crypto-native, no-expiry structure beyond bitcoin as BTC traded near $64,453 on Aug. 19.
The Aug. 18 submissions are voluntary requests for CFTC review and approval, not approvals or live products. Kalshi said it intends to list the US500 and COPPERPERP contracts shortly after Commission approval, a distinction that leaves launch timing, trading access and liquidity undisclosed.
Bitcoin was about 1.2% below its $65,185 reading a month earlier, while ether changed hands near $1,922 and the Crypto Fear & Greed Index registered 46, or Fear, according to CoinMarketCap and Alternative.me. The market data does not determine whether either proposed contract will be approved, but it frames a period when U.S. venues are testing how far crypto’s perpetual-futures format can travel into conventional markets.
Bitcoin
BTCIn its US500 filing, Kalshi described a cash-settled future on MerQube’s U.S. Large Cap Index, a float-adjusted market-capitalization benchmark made up of 500 large U.S.-listed and U.S.-domiciled companies. The copper filing describes a contract quoted in U.S. dollars per pound that would reference Pyth Network’s XCU/USD feed.
The proposed products apply the same basic mechanism used in crypto perps: positions have no fixed expiration, while funding payments move between long and short holders to keep a contract price near its reference. Kalshi says those mechanics can concentrate liquidity and avoid the rolling process used by dated futures, but the filings do not establish that either market will attract enough volume to do so.
Kalshi Seeks CFTC Review for US500 Perpetual Future
US500 is the more direct attempt to place a crypto-familiar market structure alongside established U.S. equity-index derivatives. The filing says the contract would trade from 6 p.m. Eastern on Sunday to 5 p.m. Eastern on Friday, while funding calculations would use regular U.S. equity-market hours, when the MerQube index is calculated.
Kalshi proposes a $1 multiplier per index point, a minimum price increment worth $0.05 and a $25 million mark-to-market position-accountability level. It says the product is a broad-based security-index future, putting it within the CFTC’s exclusive jurisdiction rather than the joint CFTC and Securities and Exchange Commission framework that applies to single-stock and narrow-based-index futures.
That approach differs from an event contract. The US500 proposal is a price-linked derivative, not a market on whether an event will occur. It also goes further than Kalshi’s bitcoin perpetual futures approval, which opened a regulated U.S. route for a product traditionally associated with offshore crypto exchanges.
The filing does not identify a CFTC decision date, initial margin requirement, retail availability or the fees Kalshi would charge. It says the exchange may revise fees over time and that the product could be listed only after approval.
COPPERPERP Uses Pyth Feed and 1,000-Pound Contract Unit
The copper proposal puts a physical-industrial commodity into the same open-ended framework. COPPERPERP would have a trading unit of 1,000 pounds, a minimum tick worth $0.50 and a $5 million position-accountability level, according to the terms submitted to the CFTC.
The reference-price design deserves attention. Kalshi says the contract would use Pyth Network’s XCU/USD feed, with funding and settlement calculations limited to periods in which the reference market is open and current. The contract itself would trade around the clock on weekdays, but no funding rate would be derived when the underlying market is closed.
The filing also adopts a federal copper spot-month position limit equivalent to 25,000 of its proposed contracts. That is a different risk profile from a bitcoin perpetual: copper has physical inventory, storage costs, industrial demand and a long history of supply-tightness concerns, even though the proposed Kalshi contract would settle in cash.
For crypto readers, Pyth’s role is another practical point of overlap. Rather than using a traditional exchange benchmark directly, the proposed product would rely on a price-feed network that has become familiar in onchain markets. The document says Pyth would aggregate prices submitted by first-party publishers, but it does not disclose the commercial terms of Kalshi’s agreement with Pyth.
From Bitcoin Perps to Stocks and Commodities
The CFTC approved Kalshi’s BTCPERP contract in May after reviewing it under Regulation 40.3. That decision was limited to the bitcoin structure, and the agency’s accompanying policy position stressed that perpetual contracts should be assessed case by case.
The new filings make that caveat concrete. Unlike bitcoin’s continuous global spot market, the US500 reference is calculated during U.S. cash-equity hours and copper markets close on weekends and observe maintenance windows. Kalshi’s proposed funding rules attempt to manage those gaps, but they will be part of the regulator’s analysis rather than a settled fact.
The expansion also comes as existing futures exchanges contest the treatment of U.S. perps. CME’s challenge to the CFTC over Kalshi bitcoin perps raised questions about whether the regulator’s path properly classifies the products, while Kalshi’s DOGE and SHIB rollout showed how quickly the format could spread through crypto assets after the first approval.
Fear & Greed Index
Aug. 19, 2026The immediate event to watch is a CFTC order, not a trading debut. The filings say Kalshi will list the contracts shortly following approval, but they do not provide a target date. A decision will show whether regulators view the different market hours, reference feeds, funding rules and position controls as sufficient for perps tied to stocks and copper, or require changes before any U.S. launch.
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Primary sources and further reading
| Source | Title |
|---|---|
| | CFTC: Kalshi US500 futures voluntary submission |
| | CFTC: Kalshi COPPERPERP futures voluntary submission |
| | CFTC: Kalshi BTCPERP approval |
| | Kalshi: Perpetual futures launch announcement |
| | CoinMarketCap: Bitcoin price |
| | Alternative.me: Crypto Fear and Greed Index |
Fact-checked by: Daily Crypto Briefs Fact-Check Desk
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Frequently Asked Questions
What did Kalshi file with the CFTC?
Kalshi voluntarily submitted a US500 perpetual future tied to the MerQube U.S. Large Cap Index and a COPPERPERP future tied to Pyth Network's XCU/USD copper price feed for CFTC review and approval.
Are Kalshi's US500 and copper perpetual futures live?
No. The Aug. 18 filings say Kalshi intends to list the contracts shortly following CFTC approval. The filings are not approval orders or launch notices.
What is the Kalshi US500 contract?
US500 is a proposed cash-settled perpetual future on the MerQube U.S. Large Cap Index, a float-adjusted market-capitalization index of 500 of the largest companies listed and domiciled in the United States.
How would Kalshi's copper perpetual future work?
The proposed COPPERPERP contract would track the spot price of copper in U.S. dollars per pound through Pyth Network's XCU/USD feed. Each contract would represent 1,000 pounds of copper and use periodic funding payments instead of a fixed expiry.
Why do these Kalshi filings matter for crypto markets?
Perpetual futures are a crypto-native trading structure with no fixed expiry. Kalshi's filings would apply that structure to a broad U.S. equity index and copper after the CFTC approved its bitcoin perpetual future in May.