CFTC Asks Court to Dismiss CME’s Lawsuit Over Kalshi’s Bitcoin Perpetual Futures

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission asked a federal court on Wednesday to dismiss CME Group‘s lawsuit challenging its approval of crypto perpetual futures, telling the judge the case amounts to “much ado about nothing.”

In a motion filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the agency argued CME has not plausibly alleged competitive injury and therefore lacks standing. Nothing prevents CME, itself a designated contract market, from listing the same perpetual contracts Kalshi lists, and the exchange has said publicly that its customers are not asking for them. The CFTC also pointed to CME’s own monthly figures, which show bitcoin and ether futures volumes higher in June and August than in May, the month the Kalshi order was issued.

The motion sidesteps the question of whether a contract with no expiry and a recurring funding payment is a future or a swap. That classification governs listing procedures, customer eligibility, reporting and tax treatment, and it shapes how fast onshore perpetuals can expand beyond bitcoin. The CFTC’s position is that reclassification would not help CME anyway, because Kalshi and other venues would simply relist the contracts as swaps.

The agency also argued that Congress built the Commodity Exchange Act around self-regulation, market integrity and fair competition among exchanges, and that a suit aimed at stifling a new entrant inverts that purpose. The CFTC requested an oral hearing. CME’s opposition to the motion is due October 2.

CME sued on June 18, a day after CEO Terrence Duffy told CNBC that products approved as futures are really swaps because two parties exchange ongoing payments. The complaint targets the agency’s May 29 order clearing Kalshi’s bitcoin perpetual contract and the accompanying statement letting other designated contract markets list similar products as futures. The suit landed the same day the CFTC and SEC opened a joint request for comment on how to define swaps, including for perpetual and event contracts. Jake Chervinsky, founder and CEO of the Hyperliquid Policy Center, circulated excerpts of the motion on X on Wednesday and said the agency “cooked.”

Related Listen: CME vs. Kalshi. Is Washington Picking a Winner in Prediction Markets?

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