US CFTC Urges Court to Dismiss CME Crypto Perpetuals Futures Lawsuit

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) requested a federal court to dismiss CME Group’s lawsuit over crypto perpetual futures. The Mike Selig-led agency claims the case is “much ado about nothing” and argues the exchange lacks standing on its competitive-injury claims.

US CFTC Files Motion to Dismiss CME Lawsuit

In the latest motion filed in the District Court of Columbia, the CFTC asserted that CME has not shown a plausible competitive injury. The agency noted that CME is also free to list similar crypto perpetual futures products.

However, it has publicly indicated its customers are not requesting them. It means part of its alleged competitive harm stems from its own decision not to offer them.

The CFTC also defended its classification of the contracts as futures rather than swaps, stating that “perpetual futures are futures.”

In addition, CFTC claims CME would not recover from “any purported injury” even if the agency reclassified perpetual futures as swaps, as Kalshi and other designated contract markets (DCMs) would simply offer perpetual futures under that new classification.

Mike Selig Plans Approving More Crypto Perpetual Futures

CME sued the CFTC and Mike Selig in June over the agency’s approval of products like Kalshi’s Bitcoin perpetual futures and other crypto products. This opened the door for other exchanges to list similar products as futures.