CME Sues CFTC Over Crypto Perpetuals Approval, Citing May 29 Kalshi Decision

According to CME's filing in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on June 19, Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group has sued the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and its Chair Michael Selig over the regulator's approval of crypto perpetual futures.

The lawsuit was triggered by CFTC's May 29 approval of prediction market platform Kalshi's bitcoin-linked perpetual futures and its no-action stance on similar Coinbase products. CME claims CFTC violated Congressional directives and the Commodity Exchange Act by treating futures with expiration dates as "swaps," and seeks court intervention to rescind the perpetuals approvals. The CFTC spokesperson called the lawsuit "reckless" and said CME is waging a "legal battle" over the agency's crypto policy.