Blockchain technology made further strides into traditional finance (TradFi) this week as one of the United States’ two finance sector regulators approved a blockchain-native clearing house, while the other approved the first U.S. offer of a BTC-linked futures contract.
Paxos Securities Settlement Company (PSSC) received full registration last Thursday from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to provide clearing and settlement services, making it the only blockchain-native firm approved by the regulator as a registered clearing agency and central securities depository in the country.
The following day, fellow finance regulator the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) approved Kalshi, a designated contract market, to offer trading on a BTC-linked perpetual futures contract, opening the door for similar products on Wall Street.
Blockchain clearing house
On May 28, leading blockchain infrastructure platform Paxos announced that its subsidiary, PSSC, had been granted registration as a clearing agency by the SEC under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, expanding the firm’s previous purview of stablecoin issuance and blockchain infrastructure into regulated securities clearing and settlement services.
According to the firm, the approval represented a “critical piece of financial market infrastructure,” while positioning Paxos as a potential alternative to portions of the traditional post-trade infrastructure, which is currently dominated by institutions such as the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC).
“Our clearing agency registration is the result of seven years of work with the SEC, beginning with our No-Action Letter in 2019 and the settlement pilot we operated with some of the world’s largest and most sophisticated financial institutions,” said Charles Cascarilla, CEO and Co-Founder of Paxos. “As a registered clearing agency, PSSC is able to provide clearing and settlement services for transactions in eligible securities.”
He added that “most importantly, it allows us to offer the most complete infrastructure for our partners to continue evolving with the market and blockchain technology.”
Paxos is already licensed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in the U.S., the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA) in Europe, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in Singapore.
Beginning in February 2020, under SEC no-action relief, Paxos has been operating the clearing and settlement of U.S. equities with participation from top global financial institutions. This successfully demonstrated that blockchain-based post-trade infrastructure could deliver same-day settlement, reduce costs, and improve operational efficiency within a fully regulated framework, said the firm.
Its new SEC clearing house license could pave the way for blockchain-based settlement of eligible securities with faster settlement cycles and lower operational friction.
However, while Paxos’ SEC approval is significant, it does not replace DTCC or allow universal bypass of legacy settlement systems, as U.S. markets rely on deeply integrated networks of brokers, custodians, exchanges, and depositories.
In other words, Paxos now provides an alternative blockchain-based settlement infrastructure that represents a significant step forward for both TradFi and the blockchain industry, though broad adoption will depend on continued integration with market participants and existing regulatory frameworks.
BTC-linked futures
In other regulatory approvals, on May 29, the CFTC announced it had issued an “Order for Approval” to KalshiEX, a designated contract market, for the listing of “BTCPERP Contract,” a perpetual contract that references the spot price of BTC, as a futures contract.
Unlike traditional futures contracts, perpetual futures have no fixed expiration date, allowing investors to hold onto positions indefinitely. In markets that operate 24/7, the lack of an expiration date allows market participants to maintain continuous price exposure without periodic expirations and the associated costs of rolling over contracts. They also allow traders to speculate on asset prices without holding the underlying asset, in this case, BTC.
The products have been widely used in offshore digital asset derivatives markets but were not previously available through CFTC-registered venues in the U.S., making Kalshi’s approval a significant landmark and paving the way for the launch of similar products Stateside.
“For the first time, the world’s most sophisticated financial system has opened the door for crypto asset perpetuals to operate within its regulated framework,” CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig said on Friday. “Despite clear market demand and the CFTC’s statutory obligation to promote responsible innovation, the CFTC has – until now – failed to provide a workable pathway for crypto asset perpetuals to exist in a compliant manner in the United States.”
He added that “having true perpetual contracts in the United States is a major step forward in delivering on President Trump’s goal of cementing America as the crypto capital of the world.”
Trump’s crypto paradise
Almost as soon as he took office for his second term in January 2025, President Donald Trump began reshaping the U.S. regulatory landscape in his own image and under the banner of making America the “Crypto capital of the world.”
Former SEC Chair Gary Gensler—nemesis of the more regulation-shy section of the U.S. digital asset industry—was out and Paul Atkins was in, a man Trump said “recognizes that digital assets and other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before.”
Changes in personnel also occurred at the OCC and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), followed, eventually, by the appointment in December 2025 of Michael Selig as CFTC Chairman.
On Friday, in a statement explaining what the Kalshi approval and American crypto asset perpetuals mean for the future of crypto, Selig once again demonstrated why he was very much a Trump hire.
“For too long, bureaucratic regulators approached the new frontier of finance with the assumption that innovation itself represented a threat to the public interest,” said Selig. “This decelerationist approach resulted in regulation by enforcement and forced American innovators to flee the U.S. and build beyond our borders.”
Fortunately, suggested Selig, “thanks to the leadership of President Trump, those days are behind us, and the U.S. is now the crypto capital of the world.”
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