CFTC asks court to dismiss CME lawsuit against Kalshi bitcoin perpetual futures
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has asked a court to dismiss CME Group's lawsuit against Kalshi over its cash-settled bitcoin perpetual futures contract. Kalshi's BTCPERP product was approved on May 29. The contract has no expiration date and uses a funding rate mechanism to track the spot price. The filing comes as Kalshi self-certifies gold and silver perpetual contracts to expand beyond event contracts into precious metals derivatives.
A dismissal would greenlight Kalshi to file perpetuals on every major commodity and index CME lists. CME has never faced margin and fee competition from a CFTC-registered prediction market. Kalshi is racing to file before any rule change lands.
If the court sides with the CFTC, CME loses its regulatory delay tactic just as Kalshi files crude oil and precious metals perpetuals. CME's two-front fight deepens: bitcoin perps today, core commodities tomorrow.
The CFTC's second dismissal motion in CME's lawsuit against Kalshi bitcoin perps joins the agency's earlier defense and Kalshi's parallel crude-oil filing, showing the regulator is systematically backing prediction-market perpetuals against incumbent exchange challenges.