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Kalshi has won approval to list perpetual futures tied to precious metals gold and silver in the U.S., in the latest development as the company seeks to grow its trading offerings beyond prediction markets. Originally filed in July, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission — which regulates derivatives contracts — approved the listing of the perpetuals this week. The new markets for the contracts launched on Thursday on the site. Kalshi first received approval to list perpetual futures tied to cryptocurrencies in late May, bringing the novel asset class with $90 trillion in annual volume in 2025 onshore to the U.S. for the first time. Since then, the contracts have done $44 billion in notional volume, according to the platform's website. Udesh Jha, chief risk officer at Kalshi Klear, the exchange's clearing house, said the company moved to have this be their next asset to offer perpetual futures for due to high interest in the commodities. "Metals, especially gold and silver, have a story to tell because of inflation," he said. That demand has been reflected in Kalshi's commodity-related event contracts, which include metals and oil. Volume on the contracts has surpassed $400 million in trading volume in seven months, the company announced on Tuesday, half the time it took its crypto event contracts to reach the same mark. Perpetual futures, colloquially known as "perps," are futures-style contracts that have no expiration and do not require an investor to own the underlying asset. Instead, contracts track the price of an asset, with a funding mechanism to keep the contract in-line with the market price. In addition to perps on precious metals, Kalshi is seeking approval for contracts tied to U.S. equities, industrial metal copper and currencies in August. The green light by the CFTC to list perps tied to precious metals is the first non-crypto related contract that has been approved. Following the launch of perps, traditional futures exchanges like CBOE and CME Group saw their stocks tumble on fears that the new futures type could disrupt their existing business models. CME has even sued the CFTC to block the approval of perps in the U.S., under a belief that the agency improperly permitted the contracts. But Jha said the early success of Kalshi's perps offerings is because of its regulated nature. "It all goes back to the regulated platform,' he said. "Doing it the right way, a way with proper risk controls… Unregulated platforms, they have always hit a ceiling." Disclosure: CNBC and Kalshi have a commercial relationship that includes customer acquisition and a minority investment.
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