CME’s Duffy Flags Tax Danger Zone for U.S. Perpetual Futures

A quiet legal skirmish over the definition of perpetual futures is threatening to reopen a tax question that many traders and platforms have ignored.

CME Group CEO Terry Duffy warned on Wednesday that the unresolved fight over whether these contracts are swaps or traditional futures could eventually drag the IRS into the picture, according to the original report. The timing matters because U.S.

crypto derivatives volumes are growing, and any forced reclassification would ripple through every exchange offering perpetuals to American users. Duffy’s comments surface as Washington is already grinding through broader crypto legislation.

While most of that debate focuses on spot market oversight and stablecoins, the tax treatment of derivatives remains a gap that could surprise the industry.