CME CEO: 2,500 regulatory filings all approved, not a single rejection
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has rejected zero of nearly 2,500 new product filings, approving everything from ‘how many hot dogs can Joey Chestnut eat’ to ‘whether George Santos attends the State of the Union’—CME CEO Terry Duffy says this amounts to regulation existing in name only.
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46-year veteran hands off but doesn't fully step away
Duffy has worked at CME for 46 years, starting at $56 per week, and became chairman when CME went public in 2002. Next year he will transition to executive chairman and hand the CEO title to Lynn Fitzpatrick, but emphasizes he will stay to help her through the initial transition period and will intervene if necessary.
— Terry DuffyWhen regulators approve everything: 2,500 filings, zero rejections
Since the second Trump administration took office, Duffy says, 2,500 self-certified filings submitted to the CFTC have been rejected zero times—including prediction contracts on ‘how many hot dogs can Joey Chestnut eat’ and betting on ‘whether George Santos shows up at the State of the Union’. He believes these contracts obviously violate Core Principle 3 (susceptibility to manipulation), yet regulators pass everything through without question.
— Terry DuffyRegulation by executive order evaporates when the administration changes
Duffy points out that the CFTC and SEC now rely on many new rules sidestepping congressional legislation, with agencies writing their own regulations unilaterally—rules that the next administration can wipe away with a pen stroke, just as Trump did with Biden's executive orders after taking office. He argues this is not sustainable regulation; good regulation must survive any change of government.
— Terry DuffyPerpetual contracts are swaps—and CME refuses to play that game
Duffy explains that perpetual contracts use funding rates to make long and short positions pay each other to peg the contract to spot prices. Under Dodd-Frank, anything involving mutual payments between counterparties should be classified as a swap, not a futures contract. Futures get the favorable 60/40 long/short-term tax treatment under Section 1256; swaps are taxed as ordinary income and must be cleared and registered within five days. For this reason, CME abandoned launching a 24-hour crude oil perpetual contract and instead launched only a regular 24-hour crude oil mini futures contract.
— Terry DuffyHyperliquid skips KYC—Duffy calls it a Core Principle 9 violation
In response to Hyperliquid founder Jeff Yan's earlier claim on the show that ‘the platform doesn't need to be regulated, the deployer does,’ Duffy counters that the platform itself has not implemented KYC (know your customer) and nobody is reviewing who is trading or what leverage they're using—he notes that leverage products on Hyperliquid can reach 250%, making a move of one or two points enough to trigger cascading liquidations. He argues this violates Core Principle 9, which requires exchanges to surveil their own markets, and if Hyperliquid wants to operate compliantly in the US, it must follow US law.
— Terry DuffyGPU futures blocked as national security threat—Duffy isn't buying it
Duffy says the GPU market is already over one trillion dollars and is expected by 2030 to be several times the size of the crypto asset class (currently under $3 trillion), but the government has shelved GPU futures products on national security grounds—a rationale he finds incomprehensible. If the US government truly wants to lead in AI and data centers, it should let the industry use futures to hedge GPU-related risks instead of indefinitely strangling this product category.
— Terry Duffy24/7 trading is inevitable—but the banking system is the bottleneck
Duffy believes 24/7 trading is inevitable, but the biggest obstacle is the banking system—banks close after Friday and no one can fund a full week ahead for the $76 trillion US equity market over the weekend. The crypto market is small enough that CME already runs full-time trading, but interest rates and equity products must wait for the banking system to go 24/7 as well. As an interim step, CME plans to expand equity trading hours to 23.5 hours by year-end.
— Terry DuffyMore frightening than 2008: the day oil went negative
When asked about the scariest moment in his career, Duffy says negative oil prices during the COVID pandemic in 2020 terrified him more than the 2008 financial crisis. On April 20, 2020, he went on television defending WTI crude crashing to negative $37.50, and faced public outrage. What truly frightened him was that there was nowhere to store the physical product and demand evaporated instantly, with no idea how long the condition would persist.
— Terry DuffyIn their own words · checked verbatim
It does feel a bit of a ready fire aim strategy going on right now where anything can go. And so it's very disconcerting.
Terry Duffy4:05
Since the second Trump administration's come into place, there's been 2,500 self-certifications that have been submitted into the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Not one of them has been denied.
Terry Duffy4:05
So when you look at some of the leveraged products being traded on hyperliquids platform, their leverage can go anywhere from, say, 10 to 15 percent to 250 percent.
Terry Duffy16:21
If the president truly wants to have artificial intelligence, we want to be the leader in it. We want to be the leader of data centers. We need to have a risk offset for these GPUs and other components. This makes no sense to me why they're holding these products back.
Terry Duffy21:33
But risk doesn't know what time of day it is.
Terry Duffy23:34
There's nobody on the planet that could fund, pre-fund on a Friday, a $ 76 trillion market as the banking system is closed.
Terry Duffy23:34
I would say, don't lose your moral compass and be a little bit patient.
Terry Duffy25:35
And I was being crucified why we let oil go to a negative amount.
Terry Duffy27:41
Figures
| Duffy's years at CME | 46 | 1:02 |
| Duffy's first week salary | $56 | 1:02 |
| CFTC self-certified filings rejected | 0 of 2,500 | 4:05 |
| Hyperliquid leverage range | 10-15% to 250% | 16:21 |
| Kalshi leverage limit | 6x | 17:21 |
| Crypto asset class size | under $3 trillion | 21:33 |
| US stock market size | $76 trillion | 23:34 |
| WTI crude low, April 20, 2020 | -$37.50 | 25:35 |
Glossary
- self-certification
- A regulatory mechanism allowing exchanges to self-list new contracts without prior CFTC approval.
- perpetual futures
- Derivatives with no expiration date, anchored to spot prices through funding rates.
- funding rate
- Periodic payments between long and short positions in perpetual contracts, used to anchor the price to spot.
- core principle
- Floor-level requirements the CFTC sets for regulated exchanges, such as preventing manipulation and ensuring fair market access.
- KYC
- Know your customer—a compliance requirement for financial platforms to verify trader identity.
- 1256 tax treatment
- US favorable tax treatment of futures contracts (60% long-term, 40% short-term rates).
How to listen
Investors, traders, and policy observers tracking cryptocurrency regulation, perpetual contract compliance, and prediction market legal boundaries.
The opening pleasantries about Duffy's succession plans carry little information and can be skipped.