Kalshi and Polymarket have announced the launch of perpetual contract trading in succession, as prediction market platforms accelerate their push into the derivatives sector.

BlockBeats news, April 22, according to CoinDesk, prediction market platform Kalshi is preparing to launch cryptocurrency trading services in the United States, expanding beyond its core prediction market business. According to insiders, the platform plans to first offer perpetual contracts linked to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

This move will put Kalshi in more direct competition with crypto platforms such as Coinbase. Coinbase currently does not offer true perpetual contracts in the U.S., but has launched long-dated “perpetual” futures contracts and said it intends to introduce more advanced derivatives products into the U.S. Kalshi already holds multiple licenses from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and was recently approved to offer margin trading, giving it the conditions to enter the derivatives market. Insiders say the company expects to start with crypto-linked perpetual contracts, and in the future may expand this model to other asset classes.

Kalshi’s competitor Polymarket also announced on X via a post its plan to launch perpetual futures on its platform, but did not disclose more details. The video in the tweet shows that it allows users to trade leveraged long and short positions on assets such as gold, NVIDIA, BTC, and AAPL, and states that registration grants early access.