Unchained

CFTC Approves True Perps and Agentic Finance Gets Real: DEX in the City

June 2
50 mins

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Episode Description

The CFTC reclassified perps as futures. Katherine and Jessi parse what the ruling actually permits and what it means for Hyperliquid. Plus: if your AI agent gets scammed, who pays?


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The CFTC approved a perpetual Bitcoin futures contract for KalshiEX, and crypto Twitter immediately got it wrong. Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos untangles what actually changed, why the switch from swap to futures classification matters for retail access, and what the ruling leaves wide open on leverage and decentralized exchanges.

Jessi Brooks and Katherine explore the fact that AI agents can now place orders, not just give advice. They revisit their paper "The Agents at the Gate" and make clear why Robinhood's move to let agents charge your Gold Card raises liability questions that existing consumer protection law was never built to answer.

In the strangest segment, they also dug into a New York lawsuit where an anonymous plaintiff is claiming legal ownership of nearly 40,000 dormant crypto wallets. Jessi explains why the lost-property theory will probably fail — and why even a partial win could force centralized exchanges into an impossible spot.


Hosts:

Timestamps 🏛️ 01:35 KK on why 90% of crypto Twitter got the CFTC perps ruling wrong ⚖️ 06:42 Jessi: the perps approval is case by case and the fine print matters 🌐 12:56 Does the CFTC ruling change anything for Hyperliquid and DEX perps? 🤖 19:54 Jessi: the financial system now has to treat software like a customer 💳 24:57 Why Robinhood's agentic Gold Card breaks the chargeback model 📣 32:15 Fidelity: Explore crypto careers that could change your future at https://crypto.fidelitycareers.com 🗝️ 33:39 The lawsuit nobody noticed: 40,000 dormant wallets, finders keepers 📜 40:28 Why even a partial win for Noah Doe could force exchanges to act

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