Ondo to SEC and CFTC: Can US Stock Perpetual Contracts Officially "Return" to the US?

Ondo Finance recently submitted three opinion letters to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), urging regulators to allow perpetual futures linked to US listed stocks to be issued within the United States.

The core argument of Ondo is that these types of products do not necessarily require the establishment of an entirely new regulatory framework. The current legal definition of "security futures products" does not explicitly require contracts to have a fixed expiry date; therefore, stock perpetual contracts can theoretically fit into the existing regulatory system.

The significance of this proposal is not limited to Ondo alone.

As tokenized stocks, on-chain derivatives, and the perpetual contract market rapidly develop, US regulators are facing an increasingly real question: if a large volume of trading activities related to US assets occurs offshore, should the US allow these products to enter the domestic market in a compliant manner?

Ondo: Perpetual Contracts Do Not Necessarily Need Redefinition

The documents submitted by Ondo focus on the legal definition of "security futures."

Traditional futures typically have a clear expiry date, while perpetual contracts do not have a fixed expiration date. Ondo believes that the legal text does not explicitly state that security futures products must have a fixed expiry date; thus, the absence of an expiry date is not sufficient to exclude stock perpetual contracts from the existing regulatory framework.

So, in the absence of an expiry date, how can the contract price closely track the underlying stock over the long term?

Ondo's answer is the funding payment mechanism.

Perpetual contracts create a market mechanism that keeps the contract price close to the spot price by generating fund transfers between long and short parties through periodic funding rates. According to Ondo, this mechanism can function similarly to the price convergence effect of traditional futures' "expiry delivery."

Therefore, Ondo hopes that regulators will focus on the actual operational mechanisms of the products, rather than simply excluding them from the securities futures framework due to their "perpetual" nature.

Ondo Uses Offshore Market Trading Data as a Case Study

To prove that stock perpetual contracts are not merely theoretical, Ondo cited data from its offshore business in its opinion letters.

According to Ondo, its relevant platform in Panama launched a US listed stock perpetual futures product settled in stablecoins. Approximately six weeks after the platform went live, as of August 14, the cumulative trading volume had reached about $8 billion.

This data has become an important basis for Ondo to advocate for the US regulators to allow "onshore" operations.

Ondo believes that there is already a demand for US stock perpetual products in the market. If the US regulatory framework cannot provide compliant domestic trading channels, relevant trading activities may continue to flow to offshore platforms.

This also means that regulatory issues may no longer be just about "whether to allow," but about "how to let trading occur in a regulated environment."

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Why Does Ondo Want to Bring Trading Back to the US?

There is a more realistic regulatory logic behind Ondo's actions.

Currently, many perpetual contract platforms provide derivatives related to US stocks to global users, but these platforms are not necessarily within the US regulatory framework.

For US regulators, this means that US investors may still obtain relevant products through offshore markets, but the regulatory agency's direct control over risks such as trading, leverage, margin, clearing, and market manipulation is relatively limited.

Ondo's logic is quite the opposite:

Rather than allowing these trading activities to continue occurring offshore, it is better to establish a domestic market that complies with US laws and regulatory requirements.

If this idea gains acceptance from regulators, then a richer array of on-chain stock derivatives, including tokenized stocks and perpetual futures, may emerge in the future US market.

Of course, this does not mean that the SEC and CFTC have accepted Ondo's proposal.

Currently, Ondo has only submitted opinion letters, and whether it can ultimately gain regulatory acceptance still depends on how the two agencies assess issues related to product structure, margin mechanisms, funding payments, investor protection, and market regulation.

SEC and CFTC are Reassessing the Traditional Financial Framework

The timing of Ondo's request is also worth noting.

This year, the SEC and CFTC have been strengthening regulatory coordination and re-discussing how traditional financial market rules apply to blockchain-native products.

For regulators, existing rules designed for traditional securities, futures, and custodial systems may encounter new applicability issues in the face of on-chain assets.

Especially with the rapid development of tokenized securities, the traditional financial market's “issuance—trading—clearing—custody” process is gradually showing new technological realizations.

The SEC has previously begun discussing the infrastructure rules related to tokenized securities and blockchain-native accounting, indicating that the regulatory environment itself is changing.

If the US allows more on-chain financial products into the compliant market in the future, then stock perpetual contracts may become one important test case.

Hyperliquid Also Brings Perpetual Contracts into Regulatory View

Ondo's push is not an isolated event.

In August of this year, US President Trump stated that CFTC Chairman Michael Celli is pushing for Hyperliquid to enter the US market in a "fully compliant and legal" manner.

Hyperliquid is highly related to the on-chain perpetual contract market, thus further highlighting the reality faced by US regulators: on-chain derivatives have formed a scaled market, and whether the traditional regulatory framework can accommodate these new products is becoming an increasingly important issue.

If the US can establish a clear regulatory path in the future, then on-chain perpetual contracts may gradually transition from "offshore crypto products" to financial products recognized by the US regulatory system.

Ondo's Layout is Not Just About Derivatives

From Ondo’s own development perspective, the push for stock perpetual contracts is clearly linked to its previous layout in the Real World Asset (RWA) sector.

Ondo has long focused on the tokenization of US Treasuries, stocks, and other real-world assets. According to its cited data from RWA.xyz, Ondo is already at the forefront of the tokenization of RWAs.

For tokenized assets, merely completing "asset on-chain" is not sufficient.

A complete financial market also needs trading, liquidity, custody, clearing, and risk management tools.

If in the future, the US allows further integration of tokenized stocks with compliant derivatives, then stock perpetual contracts may become an important link connecting traditional financial markets and on-chain financial infrastructure.

The Key Question: How Will the SEC and CFTC Respond?

Currently, the most notable aspect of Ondo's proposal is not the $8 billion offshore trading volume or the perpetual contracts themselves, but how US regulatory agencies will ultimately define such products.

If the SEC and CFTC believe stock perpetual contracts can operate under the existing securities futures framework, then the US market may welcome a new batch of on-chain financial products.

Conversely, if the regulatory agencies find that the existing rules are insufficient to cover funding rates, margins, on-chain data, and perpetual mechanisms, then more specific guidance or even a new regulatory framework may need to be introduced in the future.

Regardless of the final outcome, Ondo's actions have released an important signal:

The US is gradually shifting from "how to restrict on-chain financial products" to discussing "how to let these products enter a regulated financial system."

For the entire RWA and on-chain derivatives industry, this may be of greater significance than whether a single product is approved.

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