ICE and Trade[XYZ], a deployer of perpetual futures on the Hyperliquid blockchain, have agreed to bring those markets onshore in the United States. ICE will be the exclusive operator under a new dedicated market and clearing structure, with KYC-verified customers accessing the platform through futures commission merchants. The contracts would span crypto, equities, indices, commodities and foreign exchange. ICE is also making a minority investment in Trade[XYZ].
The deal is one of several moves ICE has made into new market structures this year. It invested in OKX at a $25 billion valuation, forming a joint venture with OKX that notified the SEC in October of its intent to launch a tokenized securities venue (TSV) under the innovation exemption. It licensed its Brent crude and WTI benchmark prices to OKX for offshore oil perpetuals. And it completed a $1.6 billion investment in the Polymarket prediction market in March. In each case the pattern is the same. ICE takes a minority stake and provides the regulated infrastructure.
That makes the contrast with CME Group striking. CME sued the CFTC in June arguing that perpetual futures are swaps under the Dodd-Frank Act, not futures. The case targets the CFTC’s approval of bitcoin perpetuals for Kalshi. ICE’s entire Trade[XYZ] structure depends on the CFTC’s position holding up. Speaking at the Ripple Swell conference this week, outgoing CME CEO Terry Duffy was blunt. “If the court says that they are futures not swaps, I’ll abide by it,” he said. “But I don’t see how they can say that.”
The classification determines the rules. Swap treatment would mean five day margin periods instead of one, different clearing requirements and different tax treatment. Duffy argued that futures get Section 1256 tax treatment, 60% long term and 40% short term capital gains, while swaps are taxed as ordinary income. If he is right, retail traders filing perpetuals under the wrong classification could face reclassification bills.
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