CME Group CEO Terry Duffy says crypto perpetual futures, known as perps, are really swaps, a label that would bring them under stricter post-2008 rules.

Duffy’s exchange is already suing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to win that classification, even though the regulator says CME could list the same contracts itself.

Why Does Duffy Say Perps Are Swaps?

The CFTC has already taken the opposite view, approving a Bitcoin (BTC) perp from Kalshi, a prediction market platform, as a futures contract on May 29.

Perps are contracts with no expiry date that let traders hold leveraged positions indefinitely. Duffy’s case rests on the funding rate, the payments longs and shorts…