CFTC staff issued no-action release 9252-26 on June 13, giving designated contract markets a defined pathway to convert existing perpetual-style digital commodity futures into true perpetuals. This removes a long-standing structural workaround used by crypto exchanges and moves the US closer to having a fully regulated perpetual futures market for digital commodities, directly competing with offshore venues that currently dominate that trading activity.
For Armada's crypto desk, this matters because market makers and miners who are prospective repo counterparties use perpetuals extensively for delta hedging. Migration to DCM-regulated perpetuals would change their margin requirements, funding costs, and potentially the timing and size of collateral movements into Armada repo facilities. Monitoring how key counterparties respond to this pathway is prudent.