The Daily: CFTC moves to kill CME's lawsuit over crypto perpetuals, and more

The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.

Happy Thursday! Bitcoin is pushing back above $80,000, with Capital.com's Daniela Hathorn telling The Block that the cryptocurrency is showing resilience despite the tougher macro backdrop, while Bitget's Ryan Lee pointed to cleaner positioning and spot demand as sources of support.

In today's newsletter, the CFTC moves to dismiss a CME lawsuit over crypto perpetual futures, bitcoin's correlation with gold hits a six-year high, a Michigan court extends a block on Kalshi's sports prediction markets, and more.

Meanwhile, Robinhood Chain memecoin speculation spilled into Nasdaq as shares of microcap mushroom seller Farmmi surged as much as 350%.

P.S. Don't forget to check out today's reader poll on tokenized pro sports teams later in the newsletter.

'Much ado about nothing': CFTC files to dismiss CME's lawsuit over crypto perpetual futures

The CFTC asked a federal court to throw out CME Group's lawsuit over its approval of crypto perpetual futures, calling the case "much ado about nothing."

• CME sued the CFTC in June over its May order approving Kalshi's bitcoin perpetual futures and letting other exchanges list similar contracts as futures, arguing they should be classified as swaps.
• The CFTC argued that CME cannot claim competitive injury, since it's free to list the same perpetual futures itself but has chosen not to.
• The agency noted that CME's own bitcoin and ether futures volumes rose in June and August versus May, calling any injury "self-inflicted."
• The CFTC also said CME wouldn't benefit even if perpetuals were reclassified as swaps, since Kalshi and others would just offer them under that label.
• The CFTC requested an oral hearing. CME's opposition to the motion is due Oct. 2.

Bitcoin-gold correlation hits six-year high, but analysts question if equity decoupling will last

Bitcoin's 90-day correlation with gold hit a nearly six-year high during the recent bond selloff, with Bitwise's André Dragosch saying the cryptocurrency is starting to look like "an amplified version" of the traditional store-of-value asset.

• Bitcoin rose 22% the week after the Treasury ramped up long-dated bond buying, its biggest weekly gain since March 2024, while gold added about 5% and stocks fell.
• Glassnode analysts are skeptical the stock decoupling will hold, noting bitcoin's correlation with the S&P 500 fell toward zero but that such breaks during bond selloffs have historically been "short-lived."
• Meanwhile, Bloomberg's Eric Balchunas said bitcoin has actually been less correlated to U.S. stocks than gold, small caps, or Treasurys over the past six months, undercutting the idea that it just tracks the Nasdaq.

Michigan court orders Kalshi to keep blocking sports prediction markets

A Michigan state court issued a preliminary injunction requiring Kalshi to keep blocking state residents from accessing sports-related event contracts, with violations carrying a $500,000-per-day fine.

• The order, from Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie E. Aquilina, converts a June temporary restraining order and stands until a final ruling, requiring Kalshi to use a state-licensed geolocation provider.
• Michigan sued in March, arguing Kalshi let residents "engage in sports betting under the guise of trading event contracts."
• The ruling adds to Kalshi's legal battles, with more than a dozen states taking action against it.
• However, Kalshi still leads the prediction market sector with $38.7 billion in August volume versus Polymarket's combined $8.4 billion.

SoFi, Payward agree to link banking network with Kraken infrastructure

SoFi and Kraken parent Payward agreed to link SoFi's banking network with Kraken's trading infrastructure, extending the fintech's real-time settlement system to the crypto platform.

• Payward will join the SoFi Exchange Network (SEN) and list SoFiUSD on Kraken, while SoFi taps Kraken Prime for added digital-asset liquidity in its app.
• The collaboration allows institutional users on both platforms to move dollars and manage liquidity around the clock, outside traditional banking hours.
• Payward continues to push into traditional finance, having applied for a national trust charter in May after its Kraken Financial unit secured a Federal Reserve master account in March.

Anthony Armstrong, former CFO at Elon Musk's xAI and X, joins Coinbase board

Coinbase appointed Anthony Armstrong — no relation to CEO Brian Armstrong — to its board, expanding it from nine to 10 members and adding him to the Audit and Compliance Committee.

• Armstrong brings nearly a decade of experience at Morgan Stanley, where he rose to vice chairman of investment banking. He also had a stint at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and, most recently, held CFO roles across Elon Musk's xAI and X.
• The appointment comes amid Coinbase's "everything exchange" move beyond crypto, with 88% of its net revenue now coming from sources other than bitcoin spot trading.

In the next 24 hours

• U.S. nonfarm payrolls data are due at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday.
• Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey speaks at 4:50 a.m.
• Wormhole is among the crypto projects set for token unlocks.
• Global Blockchain Congress concludes. FUTUREMODE kicks off in Taipei City and Common S3nse 2026 gets underway in Amsterdam.

Reader poll

Securitize and Socios are teaming up to let fans buy tokenized stakes in pro sports teams. Would you buy a slice of your favorite club?

YES, SIGN ME UP

NO, NOT FOR ME

One click records your pick. We'll share the result in a later edition.

*Some 60% of respondents in last Thursday's poll agreed that bitcoin will end 2026 above $100K!

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