CME Sues CFTC Over Perpetuals, Illinois Sets 0.2% Crypto Trading Tax

Crypto News

CME Group is preparing to sue the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, with Chief Executive Terry Duffy confirming the derivatives giant will challenge the regulator's approval of bitcoin perpetual futures listed by Kalshi and Coinbase. Duffy argues that perpetual contracts, which carry no expiry and settle continuously through funding rates, meet the Dodd-Frank Act's definition of a swap rather than a future, meaning the agency bypassed the stricter swap-oversight framework. He also questioned exposing retail traders to leverage as high as 50x and faulted the CFTC for skipping a full review of a product it had itself described as novel and complex.

Illinois has become the first U.S. state to impose a dedicated levy on digital-asset activity. Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the Digital Asset Tax Act on June 16, applying a 0.2% charge on the exchange, transfer, and custody of crypto by operators based in the state or serving its residents above a $100,000 annual revenue threshold. The measure, tucked into budget bill Senate Bill 3019, takes effect on January 1, 2027. Industry groups condemned the last-minute insertion, noting that no state imposes a comparable transaction tax on trading, transferring, or holding stocks, bonds, or derivatives.

Federal lawmakers are separately moving to close a long-standing tax advantage for crypto holders. House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington spotlighted H.R. 9172, which would extend the wash-sale and constructive-sale rules to digital assets, curbing the tax-loss harvesting strategy that lets investors book losses while quickly rebuilding the same position. Holders would face the same 30-day window applied to securities. Qualifying U.S.-dollar stablecoins are excluded, and assets earned through validation work such as staking or mining are exempt. The bill targets broadly traded tokens with a market value above $500 million, indexed to inflation after 2027.

Security researchers flagged a fresh exploit on BNB Chain, where DeFi mining protocol Little Boy Plus was drained of roughly $370,000, equal to about 610.5 BNB or 377,642 USDT. On-chain data shows the flaw sat in the LBPHashrate update function, which could be triggered by a zero-value transferFrom call that bypassed the standard OpenZeppelin allowance check. The attacker minted reward tokens directly into an automated market maker liquidity pool on PancakeSwap, inflating the pair's balance without adding real reserves, then swapped out the pool's entire USDT holdings. The case echoes a recent $2.19 million breach on privacy network Aztec.

Geopolitical risk eased after the United States and Iran electronically signed a memorandum of understanding, opening a 60-day window for nuclear and sanctions negotiations. The 14-point framework, under 800 words, commits Tehran to forgo nuclear weapons and dilute enriched uranium under IAEA supervision, while dangling sanctions relief that could restore oil exports and unlock billions in frozen assets. Separately, Iran and Oman have broadly agreed on a Strait of Hormuz management mechanism that would charge passing vessels a service fee once the window closes. Markets are watching closely, since the strait carries a large share of seaborne crude and any disruption feeds directly into energy prices.

The artificial-intelligence buildout continued to ripple through hardware markets. Winbond shares jumped more than 8% intraday to a NT$216 record high on reports the Taiwanese memory maker has entered NVIDIA's supply chain for the next-generation Vera Rubin platform, which enters mass production in the second half of 2026. A single Vera Rubin rack reportedly requires more than 600 NOR Flash chips for boot and firmware storage, and analysts expect Winbond to capture up to half of that market by 2027 as rivals pivot toward high-bandwidth memory. Contract NOR Flash prices are forecast to climb sharply on structural shortages.

Taken together, these threads sketch a market squeezed from several directions at once: regulators in Washington and Springfield are tightening crypto's tax and derivatives perimeter, a fresh exploit underscores persistent operational risk, and AI and energy dynamics keep reshaping the macro backdrop. COINOTAG's aggregate data captures the resulting caution. Our Fear & Greed Index sits at 15, deep in Extreme Fear, while Bitcoin dominance has climbed to 69.8% and total crypto market capitalization holds near $1.85 trillion. With bitcoin trading around $64,000 and capital rotating defensively toward the majors, the readings point to a risk-averse tape vulnerable to a deeper bear market should regulatory or geopolitical headlines sour.