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Ahmed Barakat
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Chainlink News: Kalshi launched LINKPERP on June 8, the first CFTC-regulated perpetual futures contract for Chainlink available to U.S. traders, as institutional ETF net assets in LINK crossed $101.21 million with zero outflow days since December 2 inception.
The regulatory milestone lands while LINK trades near $7.88, the lowest it has been for a while. Bullish infrastructure, bearish chart, that is the tension traders are navigating right now.
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Chainlink News: Kalshi’s LINKPERP, The First CFTC-Regulated Chainlink Perp in U.S. History
KalshiEX LLC, a CFTC-registered Designated Contract Market, self-certified LINKPERP under CFTC Regulation 40.2(a), the same fast-track mechanism used for its BTCPERP debut on May 29, 2026, which made Kalshi the first company in U.S. history to offer regulated perpetual futures.
Self-certification means Kalshi attests the contract complies with core DCM principles, market surveillance, position limits, and customer protection – without requiring a separate commission vote, leveraging the precedent set by the BTCPERP order (Release 9240-26).
The contract is cash-settled, has no expiry, trades 24/7, and references the CME CF Chainlink-Dollar Real Time Index via CF Benchmarks. Each contract represents 10,000 LINK, quoted in USD per 1 LINK, with a minimum tick of $0.0001 per LINK ($1 per contract).
Central clearing runs through Kalshi Klear with funding rate caps and lower leverage limits than offshore venues, a deliberate trade-off designed to attract compliant institutional flow rather than speculative maximum leverage.
Chainlink’s official X account called LINKPERP “an industry first for a U.S. regulated market and a major step for compliant access to Chainlink exposure.”
Kalshi has framed this as the opening of a broader suite of U.S.-regulated crypto derivatives, with ETH, SOL, and LTC cited as candidates if early LINKPERP volumes justify expansion.
The derivatives market context matters here: regulated onshore perps are being tested against offshore liquidity giants like Binance and Bybit, where KYC requirements are lighter, and leverage is higher.
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