Established exchange operators are increasingly venturing into Bitcoin derivatives, driven by rising demand for digital assets, fueled in part by US President Donald Trump’s pro-crypto stance. The Singapore Exchange (SGX) is planning to launch Bitcoin perpetual futures, marking a significant move as traditional exchanges dive deeper into the crypto derivatives market.
According to a spokesperson, SGX aims to roll out these contracts in the second half of 2025, targeting institutional clients and professional investors exclusively, with retail customers prohibited from trading these instruments. This initiative reflects a broader trend of established exchanges exploring Bitcoin derivatives, as reported by Bloomberg News on March 4. Notably, Japan’s Osaka Dojima Exchange, which has historical roots dating back to the 18th century, is also seeking approval to list Bitcoin futures.
SGX hopes to serve as a conduit between regulated financial markets and the more volatile world of cryptocurrency trading, believing that its offerings will “significantly expand institutional market access,” the spokesperson noted. The planned perpetual futures are still pending approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Perpetual futures, which do not have an expiration date, allow traders to speculate on price movements of an underlying asset without requiring ownership of the asset itself. SGX is not the only exchange aiming to introduce these contracts in Singapore; EDX Markets, a digital asset firm based in Hoboken, New Jersey and backed by Citadel Securities, announced its intention to offer similar instruments in the city-state in January 2024.
Perpetual contracts are commonplace in offshore cryptocurrency platforms like Binance and OKX and were a prominent feature of the now-defunct crypto empire of FTX Co-Founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Engaging with crypto exchanges carries credit risks for counterparties, as the brief history of crypto trading includes numerous instances of asset theft and exchange failures. However, the SGX spokesperson emphasized that its Aa2 rating from Moody’s will provide a trustworthy alternative for trading crypto futures. The concept of perpetually rolling futures is already well-established in commodity markets. For instance, the Japan Exchange Group offers “rolling-spot” gold futures, allowing investors to gain exposure to current gold prices without the logistical concerns of physical delivery.
These perpetual contracts were first introduced by the crypto exchange BitMEX in 2016, utilizing a mechanism akin to certain swap contracts: if a position is profitable, one party compensates the other, and vice versa if the position loses value. Meanwhile, conventional Bitcoin and Ether futures with set expiration dates are already widely available through US exchanges. In October 2024, Chicago-based Bitnomial announced plans to launch perpetual futures in the US market using a new technology platform called Botanical.
