finance
CME Group Sues CFTC to Overturn Kalshi Perpetual Futures Approval
CME Group filed suit on June 19 alleging the CFTC failed to analyze whether Kalshi's perpetual futures contracts qualify as futures or swaps under the Dodd-Frank Act.
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CME Group filed a lawsuit against the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Thursday, June 19, 2026, seeking to vacate the agency's approval of Kalshi's perpetual futures contracts. The complaint alleges the CFTC did not conduct its own analysis of whether Kalshi's Bitcoin perpetual product meets the legal definition of a future.
It states the agency never mentioned the Dodd-Frank provision that defines a swap and that the word swap appears nowhere in the approval order.
CME Group argues that perpetual futures contracts are swaps under the Dodd-Frank Act rather than futures. The lawsuit claims the CFTC rubberstamped Kalshi's application without considering the distinction between the two categories. The CFTC granted Kalshi's application to list perpetual futures contracts at the end of May 2026.
On the same day, the agency sent a no-action letter to Coinbase regarding similar products. CME CEO Terry Duffy announced on June 18, 2026, that the company would file the lawsuit. Duffy is scheduled to step down next year.
The suit also asks the court to vacate self-certified products tied to the approval. CME contends that the CFTC did not properly consider Kalshi's application before granting it. Former Starkware General Counsel Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos stated there is no clear precedent on whether future delivery is a requirement for a future.
She noted that future is not defined in statute while swap was defined by Dodd-Frank. The CFTC has discretion to categorize novel products that have the characteristics of a future as opposed to a swap, Bos said in an email.
