CME Chief Executive Terrence Duffy said the derivatives provider planned to sue the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) after it approved perpetual futures products earlier this month.
The CFTC’s approval of Kalshi’s perpetual futures product did not meet the requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act governing swaps, he told CNBC on Wednesday.
“Under the Dodd-Frank Act, it clearly defines what an exchange is and what a future is, and when there are two parties exchanging payments with each other, that is considered an exchange,” he said. “So, in any case, these products that you supposedly approved as futures are not futures, they would be swaps, and if they are swaps, and let’s say, as you know, there are different requirements to be able to participate in the swap market.”
Duffy, who will leave his post next year, said CME would “need to first understand what the rules of the road are” before considering listing its own perpetual futures contracts, but that those rules are not “very clear” at present.
