Coinbase and Five Firms Back CFTC in Stock Perps Court Fight

Coinbase and five other firms have filed a proposed amicus brief supporting the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in a court fight over single-stock perpetual futures, endorsing a framework in which both the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission supervise the products.

The filing lands in a case that seeks to halt single-stock perpetuals outright. Rather than backing the CFTC as the exclusive regulator, the proposed brief argues for a shared supervisory role — placing the SEC inside the framework alongside the derivatives regulator, according to the filing.

The reply deadline in the case was Nov. 10.

What does the brief actually argue?

The core position is joint oversight. Coinbase and the five co-signing firms want the court to see single-stock perpetual futures as products that sit within the jurisdiction of both federal agencies, not one.

That matters because the underlying litigation aims to stop the products entirely. A win for the plaintiffs would remove single-stock perpetuals from the U.S. market. The firms' proposed brief supports the CFTC's defense of its position in the dispute while explicitly rejecting the idea that the CFTC alone should hold supervisory authority.

The filing, in other words, does two things at once: it backs the derivatives regulator in the immediate fight, and it sketches a two-agency structure in which the SEC retains a defined role.

Why does joint oversight matter for the market?

Single-stock perpetual futures — perp-style contracts that never expire, referenced to individual equities rather than crypto — have grown into a structural question for U.S. market regulation. They don't map cleanly onto the existing division of labor between the SEC, which polices securities markets, and the CFTC, which supervises futures and derivatives.

A joint-oversight outcome would give both agencies supervisory authority over the products. For issuers and trading venues, that means dual compliance obligations rather than a single regulator's rulebook. For the agencies, it sets a precedent for how hybrid products get allocated when existing statutes don't draw a bright line.

Coinbase's participation is notable on its own. The exchange has spent years arguing that most crypto spot trading sits outside SEC jurisdiction while derivatives fall to the CFTC. Signing a brief that explicitly seats the SEC inside the oversight framework for a perp product represents a pragmatic posture: accept both regulators rather than risk a ruling that kills the product category.

What happens next?

The case has now passed its Nov. 10 reply deadline, which sets up the next stage of briefing. The court will weigh the proposed amicus brief alongside the parties' arguments as it decides whether single-stock perpetuals can continue to trade in the U.S. — and, if they can, under which agencies' supervision.

The eventual ruling will shape how issuers structure equity-referenced perpetuals and how the SEC and CFTC divide responsibility for hybrid products that cross their traditional boundary.