Kalshi Eyes Tesla Perps: Wall Street Can't Agree Who Owns This
Kalshi, the US prediction-market operator, has filed plans to launch perpetual contracts on approximately 60 stocks and ETFs — including Tesla and Nvidia — in a direct challenge to traditional derivatives exchanges, according to CoinDesk.
Kalshi, the US prediction-market operator, has filed plans to launch perpetual contracts on approximately 60 stocks and ETFs — including Tesla and Nvidia — in a direct challenge to traditional derivatives exchanges, according to CoinDesk. The move would bring one of crypto's most speculative trading instruments into mainstream equity markets, and has immediately reignited a jurisdictional war between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission over who holds the pen.
Kalshi argues its contracts fall under CFTC authority. The SEC, which oversees equities, has not confirmed that reading. The gap between those two positions is not procedural — it is the difference between a product that trades freely and one that gets shut down before launch.
The timing is not accidental. Crypto perpetuals, which allow traders to hold leveraged positions indefinitely without an expiry date, have generated hundreds of billions in volume on offshore exchanges. Bringing that structure onshore, onto regulated US infrastructure, would redirect significant liquidity — and significant fees — away from platforms that currently operate beyond the reach of American regulators.
Nvidia shares have lost ground this week alongside the broader market selloff. Launching a perpetual contract on a stock in freefall is either a stress test or a provocation. Wall Street will decide which, once Washington decides who gets to answer.
