CME Group Sues CFTC Over Crypto Perpetual Futures

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group has sued the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission and its chair, Michael Selig, over the agency’s approvals of cryptocurrency perpetual futures. The complaint was filed Thursday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

The lawsuit grew out of a May 29 CFTC notice that approved perpetual futures tied to the spot price of Bitcoin for prediction markets platform Kalshi and issued a no-action position for similar products on Coinbase. CME contends those approvals treated "futures" as "swaps" with expiration dates, contrary to directives from Congress, and said the agency violated the Commodity Exchange Act.

The suit followed comments by CME CEO Terrence Duffy that the company would take legal action.

United States, District of Columbia

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