The Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Sept. 2, 2026, asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to dismiss CME Group's lawsuit challenging the agency's May 29, 2026, approval of Kalshi's cash-settled Bitcoin perpetual futures contract, BTCPERP, calling the case much ado about nothing and arguing CME has not shown concrete financial harm. Attorneys for CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig and the commission said the May order applies to all registered designated contract markets, so CME itself may list comparable perpetual futures on Bitcoin and other digital commodities with deep spot markets; CME does not claim it cannot list such contracts or that the CFTC lacked approval authority, only that products with no expiration and periodic trader-to-trader payments should have been labeled swaps rather than futures under the Commodity Exchange Act. CME's June 18, 2026, complaint also accused Selig of acting unilaterally without a full five-commissioner panel and of bypassing rulemaking while departing from earlier enforcement that treated crypto perpetuals as swaps. The CFTC framed a more fundamental defect, contending CME lacks standing and that any asserted competitive injuries are self-inflicted because the exchange has refused to list the same type of perpetual futures already available to Kalshi, Coinbase, and other DCMs, and a CFTC spokesperson previously called the suit lawfare and the complaint frivolous. The agency cited CME comments that clients had not requested perpetual futures and volume data showing Bitcoin and Ether futures activity higher in June and August 2026 than in May, plus August volumes above May for Bitcoin, Micro Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Micro Ethereum futures, as evidence against competitive injury. It added that reclassifying the contracts as swaps would not remove competition, that futures-swaps regulatory and tax differences are not decisive, and that using the CEA to block a rival undercuts the statute's aims of fair competition and responsible innovation, even while acknowledging CME falls within the CEA's zone of interests. Kalshi has since sought listings tied to altcoins and a copper perpetual subject to separate review. Industry context around the dispute includes advanced plans to fast-track and onshore Hyperliquid, a cross-asset perpetual trading DEX, and DeFiLlama data showing crypto perpetual volume expanding fourfold in 2025 from $300 billion to a $1.2 trillion peak last October before falling by about half to more than $500 billion. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly denied the CFTC's bid to skip filing the administrative record, ordered a combined briefing schedule by Sept. 4, 2026, and set CME's opposition due Oct. 2, 2026; the CFTC has requested an oral hearing that had not been scheduled on the public docket as of the latest reporting, and no ruling has issued.