CFTC Seeks to Dismiss CME Lawsuit Over Crypto Perpetual Futures

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has urged a federal court to dismiss CME Group's lawsuit over crypto perpetual futures. The agency claims that CME lacks standing on its competitive-injury claims and that the case is 'much ado about nothing.'

CME sued the CFTC in June, arguing that perpetual futures meet the Commodity Exchange Act definition of swaps under the Dodd-Frank Act. However, the CFTC has defended its classification of the contracts as futures rather than swaps, stating that 'perpetual futures are futures.'

The CFTC also argued that even if the agency reclassified perpetual futures as swaps, other exchanges would simply offer them under this new classification, negating any competitive harm to CME.