CME Sues CFTC Over Crypto Perpetuals, Accused of Protecting 92% Derivatives Monopoly

CME Group is under fire from crypto policy advocates who say the exchange is using the courts to protect a near-monopoly in U.S. derivatives markets. Jake Chervinsky, CEO of the Hyperliquid Policy Center, slammed CME this week after the exchange sued the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and its chairman, Michael Selig, over the regulator’s recent approval of regulated crypto perpetual futures. In a June 19 post on X, Chervinsky called the lawsuit a “shocking miscalculation” and accused CME of revealing itself as “a petty incumbent monopolist afraid of competition.” Hyperliquid’s criticism—made in a June 18 post that cites Better Markets data—spotlights just how dominant CME is: roughly 92% of U.S. exchange-traded derivatives volume, the post says. “When one venue holds that much volume, everyone else carries the cost. Less choice, higher prices,” the group wrote, arguing that years of U.S. traders being forced offshore to access perpetual-style products ended only after regulators recently opened a compliant domestic pathway. What triggered the legal fight The lawsuit challenges the CFTC’s decision to allow regulated crypto perpetual futures on U.S. platforms such as Coinbase and Kalshi, a move that has already produced more than $1 billion in trading volume, according to earlier reporting. CME contends that those perpetual contracts were mischaracterized by the agency—arguing they should be regulated as swaps under the Dodd-Frank Act’s Title VII framework, not as conventional futures. In public comments and court filings, CME said the CFTC departed from established treatment of similar instruments and approved a new product type without going through formal rulemaking. CME’s outgoing CEO Terrence Duffy told CNBC this week the exchange planned legal action after the approvals, reiterating the swap-versus-futures argument. Why it matters for markets and regulators Hyperliquid and Chervinsky frame the lawsuit as an incumbent pushing back against competition just as a genuinely new derivatives product—perpetual futures—enters regulated U.S. markets for the first time in over a decade. The group also quoted CFTC Chair Michael Selig’s recent remark that “vested interests always fear the future,” using it to argue that legacy firms often resist new entrants. The dispute comes as regulators themselves revisit the classificatory rules at issue. The CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission have launched a joint public consultation asking for input on how swaps, security-based swaps, mixed swaps and other modern derivatives should be treated under Dodd-Frank. The agencies say the review could clear “longstanding ambiguities”; SEC Chairman Paul Atkins has said clarification is overdue. The consultation will be open for public comment for 60 days after it appears in the Federal Register. Bottom line: the clash pits a dominant exchange defending its legal reading of Dodd-Frank against crypto firms and advocates who say opening a regulated path to perpetuals breaks a long-standing reliance on offshore venues—and could finally bring more competition and choice to U.S. derivatives markets.