ICE and OKX Plan to Launch Perpetual Futures Linked to Brent and WTI Oil

According to Bloomberg, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), is collaborating with cryptocurrency exchange OKX to launch perpetual contracts based on oil as the underlying asset. In their joint statement on Friday, they mentioned that the new contracts will be based on the Brent crude and WTI crude futures prices under the ICE umbrella.

These perpetual contracts will be listed on the OKX platform, covering regions where OKX has obtained the necessary permissions to offer perpetual futures. ICE currently holds a stake in OKX, and the collaboration aims to introduce benchmark prices from traditional energy futures into the cryptocurrency perpetual contract system.

Unlike traditional futures, perpetual contracts have no expiration date, and traders do not receive physical crude oil nor need to perform contract rollovers. It originated from cryptocurrency exchanges and is primarily used for speculating on the prices of digital assets like Bitcoin.

Currently, these types of products are mainly provided by offshore exchanges, which have a significantly different regulatory environment compared to traditional commodity exchanges in the United States like ICE and CME Group. CFTC Chairman Michael Selig recently expressed his desire to include perpetual futures products under the regulatory framework as soon as possible.