CME sues CFTC as Coinbase and Kalshi push U.S. perpetual crypto products
The U.S. push to bring crypto perpetual contracts onshore has quickly turned into a courtroom fight. Coinbase has launched U.S.-style perpetual futures on its CFTC-regulated derivatives exchange, starting with micro Bitcoin and Ether contracts, while KalshiEX won CFTC approval on May 29 to list BTCPERP, a perpetual contract tied to spot Bitcoin. On June 18, CME sued the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and its chairman, Michael Selig, in federal court in Washington, D.C., asking the court to void Kalshi’s approval and the related policy statement. At the center of the dispute is a basic legal question with large commercial consequences: whether perpetual contracts should be treated as futures or as swaps under the Commodity Exchange Act. CME argues they fit the statutory definition of swaps and should face a much stricter regulatory regime, including dealer registration, capital requirements and intensive reporting. The CFTC has pushed back, calling the lawsuit baseless and framing it as resistance from an incumbent exchange to a more competitive market. The case lands as U.S. venues roll out different perpetual models, from Kalshi’s no-expiry structure to Coinbase’s long-dated futures design that uses hourly interest accrual and twice-daily funding settlements. Funding rates, liquidation rules, collateral fragmentation and the possibility of stablecoin margin all now sit at the center of a growing fight over market structure, regulatory jurisdiction and who gets to shape a multibillion-dollar segment of crypto trading.
