A major change may be coming to the U.S. cryptocurrency derivatives market. CFTC Chairman Michael Zelig said during a panel discussion the other day that, for the first time, regulation-compliant perpetual futures are expected to be cleared in the United States within the next few weeks.

Perpetual futures—contracts that are traded as a matter of course on overseas exchanges—are futures agreements with no expiration date, which makes leveraged trading possible. However, in the U.S., they have not been offered in a fully regulation-compliant manner until now. As a result, liquidity has been flowing abroad ever more rapidly.

Chairman Zelig pointed out that the regulatory approach taken so far pushed the market outside the country. Under the new policy, the goal is to bring innovation back under domestic oversight. In other words, the U.S. is trying to regain control of this important derivatives product: perpetual futures.

What’s interesting is that, at the same time as this move, the CFTC is also preparing guidelines on prediction markets. There has been debate for some time about jurisdictional issues involving event contract platforms, but there are signs that the matter may finally be clarified.

However, the regulatory side’s setup is not necessarily in perfect shape. Zelig is currently the only Senate-confirmed commissioner at the CFTC, and the remaining 4 seats remain vacant. Nominations from President Trump have not yet been announced.

SEC Chair Paul Atkins also emphasized on the same panel that congressional action is essential for broad reforms to digital assets. Both regulatory agencies agree that a legal framework is needed to make the supervisory responsibilities of the SEC and CFTC clearer.

The market structure bill currently being considered in Congress is directly tied to redefining these supervisory responsibilities. That said, progress seems to be somewhat stalled due to discussions surrounding stablecoin yields and tokenized stocks.

If perpetual futures are truly officially approved in the U.S., derivative trading volumes could potentially return significantly to the domestic market. Liquidity that overseas platforms have monopolized could gradually come back to U.S. markets. For traders and institutional investors, the coming few weeks are likely to be an extremely important period. It could also determine whether the U.S. can truly regain a meaningful share in the global perpetual futures market.