Ondo Asks US to Allow Stock Perpetual Futures

Ondo Finance has formally asked U.S. financial regulators to permit perpetual futures contracts tied to individual U.S. stocks to be traded domestically, asserting that existing securities laws are sufficient to accommodate these instruments. The company submitted three comment letters to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on August 24, arguing that new legislation is not required to enable this market. The core of Ondo's proposal is that perpetual contracts, which do not have a fixed expiration date like traditional futures, can still qualify as security futures products. The company contends that continuous funding mechanisms and mark-to-market settlements serve the same economic purpose as a set expiration date, keeping the contract's price aligned with the underlying asset. This argument is central to bringing billions of dollars in offshore trading of U.S. equity perpetuals back under U.S. oversight. Ondo's affiliate, Ondo Global Panama Inc., currently operates a platform for non-U.S. customers offering stablecoin-settled perpetual futures on U.S.-listed stocks.