Commodity Futures Trading Commission seeks dismissal of CME Group's crypto perpetual futures complaint
Legal representatives for the CFTC characterized the legal challenge as "much ado about nothing," asserting that CME Group failed to establish proper standing for its complaint regarding cryptocurrency perpetual futures contracts.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission of the United States has submitted a request for dismissal of a civil lawsuit brought forth by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group, in which the exchange operator alleged that the agency's classification of digital asset "futures" as "swaps" violated Congressional intent.
According to a Wednesday court submission to the US District Court for the District of Columbia, legal counsel for both CFTC Chair Michael Selig and the regulatory commission have petitioned for a hearing to consider the dismissal request of the CME legal action, asserting that the organization did not possess proper standing to bring the lawsuit.
The CME Group initiated legal proceedings against the CFTC in June following the agency's approval of perpetual futures contracts linked to Bitcoin (BTC) spot prices for prediction markets operator Kalshi and the release of a no-action letter for comparable products on digital currency exchange Coinbase. According to the June legal complaint, Selig took unilateral action without authorization from a complete five-member commission panel, contravening the Commodity Exchange Act through the treatment of "futures" as "swaps" that include expiration dates.
According to the CFTC, the exchange operator failed to provide a "concrete showing that it is in fact likely to suffer financial injury," noting that "any CFTC-registered exchange can list perpetual futures on digital assets."
"This lawsuit is much ado about nothing," said the filing. "CME claims to be injured by a CFTC order authorizing 'perpetual futures contracts' on digital assets like bitcoin [...] as well as a policy statement concerning perpetual futures more generally [...] CME does not argue that it could not list this same type of futures contract."
The legal motion further stated:
"[...] CME has not alleged, and cannot plausibly allege, that it suffered a financial injury from the CFTC's authorization of perpetual futures contracts. CME therefore lacks standing."
When Cointelegraph reached out for comment regarding the original lawsuit, a CFTC representative characterized CME's actions as "lawfare." The regulatory body described the June legal complaint as "frivolous."
Chair Selig along with the CFTC have formally petitioned for an oral hearing to consider the dismissal motion, though no hearing date had appeared on the publicly available court docket as of Thursday.