Perpetual futures have become one of crypto’s defining financial products, but DRW CEO Don Wilson says much of what people think they know about them is wrong.

In a series of posts on X, Wilson argued that perpetual futures — or “perps” — are simply futures contracts without an expiration date. The features often associated with crypto perpetuals, such as high leverage, auto-deleveraging (ADL) and around-the-clock trading, are characteristics of how some crypto exchanges chose to implement the products, not the contracts themselves.

“Most of what people think they know about ‘perps’ … has nothing to do with the contract itself,” Wilson wrote.

His comments come as interest in bringing perpetual futures into regulated U.S. markets…