Ondo Finance is urging U.S. regulators to allow perpetual futures tied to individual stocks to operate onshore, arguing that existing rules for security futures could already accommodate these products.
In three comment letters sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on August 24, Ondo said stock perpetuals could work within the current framework while using modern margining systems and onchain market data.
Ondo already offers stablecoin-settled perpetual futures on individual U.S.-listed stocks through a Panama-based affiliate. The company said the platform had recorded $8 billion in cumulative trading volume as of August 14, only about six weeks after its launch.
Ondo filed three comment letters with the SEC and CFTC on perpetual futures, portfolio margining, and market data reporting.
The letters address a shared problem across three different rules, each built for a market that no longer works the same way.
The rules should judge… pic.twitter.com/dzQvUhTITs
— Ondo Finance (@Ondo) September 2, 2026
Unlike traditional futures, perpetual contracts do not have a fixed expiry date. Instead, scheduled funding payments can help keep the contract price close to that of the underlying stock. Ondo argued that this mechanism can serve a role similar to expiration in traditional futures.
“Nothing in the statutory definition of a security futures product requires a fixed expiration date,” Ondo said in its product-classification letter.
The company also pointed out that many of the stocks used as the underlying assets for offshore perpetuals are mainly traded on U.S. exchanges. From Ondo’s perspective, bringing this activity back into the United States would allow it to take place under domestic regulation rather than offshore.
Source: ondo.finance
Ondo is already a significant player in tokenized real-world assets. RWA.xyz data placed it fourth among managers in the sector, with around $2.6 billion in distributed value as of Wednesday.
The proposal comes at a time when U.S. regulators are reconsidering how existing rules should apply to blockchain-based financial products. Perpetual futures and tokenized securities are increasingly becoming part of that discussion.
President Donald Trump said in August that CFTC Chair Michael Selig was working to bring Hyperliquid, a major onchain perpetual futures platform, into the United States in a “fully compliant and legal fashion.” Neither the CFTC nor Hyperliquid has publicly explained how such U.S. access would be structured.
Hyperliquid’s native HYPE token jumped more than 20% after Trump’s comments and had gained nearly 49% over the previous month, trading around $81 on Wednesday, according to CoinGecko data.
The SEC and CFTC have also been working more closely this year. In March, the two agencies signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at improving coordination in areas where their regulatory responsibilities overlap.
The SEC is separately reviewing rules governing traditional financial market infrastructure. On Tuesday, the agency proposed changes to its decades-old transfer agent framework, citing growing interest in blockchain-based recordkeeping and tokenized securities.
Ondo’s request therefore arrives as U.S. regulators face a broader question: should blockchain-based versions of familiar financial products be treated under existing rules, or should they require entirely new frameworks?
For Ondo, the answer is clear. The company believes existing security-futures rules can provide a foundation for stock perpetuals without forcing this growing market to remain offshore. Whether regulators agree will depend on how the SEC and CFTC interpret their existing authority and the risks associated with these products.
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