Perps Should Be Classified as Swaps, Says CME Boss
CME Group CEO Terrence Duffy said June 17 he plans to sue the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over its decision to approve perpetual futures trading in the United States, escalating a regulatory clash over one of crypto’s fastest‑growing derivatives.
Duffy told CNBC the lawsuit will be filed on Thursday, June 18, and will argue that perpetual futures should be classified as swaps under the Dodd‑Frank Act. That designation, he said, would require such products to be listed through CME.
“We have an exclusive license with every single provider of the benchmarks. So all of these would have to go through CME regardless of the perpetual,” Duffy said. “They would have to list them as swaps, if that’s the way that it came out.”
Duff added that he and the CME board have been preparing the challenge for eight months. “I’ve never shied away from one, and I won’t shy away from this,” he said. “We are not taking this lightly.”
The CME boss’ remarks follow CFTC Chair Michael Selig’s defence of the agency’s decision earlier this week, saying the commission aims to bring internationally popular products onshore under U.S. regulatory oversight.
Selig said incumbents “will always fear the future,” but argued that perpetual futures should be available in a regulated environment. “It’s time to approve regulated futures contracts that have no expiration date,” he said. “We’re going to make sure the product’s available, but it’s well regulated here in the U.S.”
He dismissed concerns raised by Duffy about leverage risks, noting that complexity alone is not a reason to block new products. “The notion that we should be paternalistic and allow for one type of product, because it’s easier to understand, I think that’s frankly a misunderstanding itself,” he said. “Options are very complicated.”
Selig added that brokers remain responsible for evaluating customer suitability and ensuring proper disclosures. He also rejected suggestions that the approval was politically motivated by President Donald Trump’s administration or influenced by Donald Trump Jr., who serves as a strategic adviser to Kalshi. “That’s absolutely absurd, that insinuation,” he said.
The CFTC’s late‑May approval allowed prediction‑market operator Kalshi to offer bitcoin perpetual futures — the first time the product has been permitted in the U.S. The platform has since expanded its offerings to other cryptocurrencies.
Demand has been strong. At a recent event marking the launch, Kalshi said its perpetual futures had generated more than $3 billion in notional volume in just over a week of beta testing. Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour said last week that the platform’s maximum leverage is lower than the leverage available on some CME futures contracts.
