CME CEO Terry Duffy, one of the loudest Wall Street critics of crypto perps and prediction markets, will step down next year after decades at the derivatives giant.
CME Group, the Chicago-based exchange operator behind some of the world's biggest futures markets, said Wednesday that Lynne Fitzpatrick, its president and chief financial officer, will become CEO on March 1.
- She will be the first woman to lead the company, while Duffy will move into the role of executive chairman.
The transition ends Duffy's run as CME's top operating leader while the old exchange world faces a new kind of competition from crypto-native products, 24/7 trading and prediction markets.
Read also: CFTC regulation may boomerang on CME's oil bid after Hyperliquid push
Duffy started at CME in 1980 as a trader in the hog pit, when the exchange was still built around floor trading.
He later helped turn it into an electronic derivatives giant, leading CME through the 2007 merger with the Chicago Board of Trade and the 2008 takeover of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The perps fight
Duffy's exit comes weeks after he tore into U.S. regulators for allowing crypto perpetual futures, or perps, to reach U.S. traders.
At a June industry conference, Duffy said that approving perps created systemic risk and criticized the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's review process.
Terry Duffy
- Perps are futures-like contracts with no expiration date and are among the main products used on crypto platforms such as Hyperliquid.
- Coinbase and Kalshi have pushed to bring regulated versions of the product to U.S. users.
Terry Duffy gestures during a prediction markets panel with Shayne Coplan and Jeffrey Sprecher. Source: X
Duffy also became a familiar name in crypto circles after a tense CFTC prediction markets roundtable, where Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan argued that strict U.S. rules push regular users offshore or leave them dealing with older incumbents like CME.
Duffy appeared to respond by flipping him off, turning the policy fight into a viral clip.
The exchange teamed up with FanDuel last year to launch FanDuel Predicts, a regulated prediction market platform offering contracts on economic indicators.
Who takes over
Fitzpatrick joined CME in 2006 and became chief financial officer in 2023 before being named president and CFO in 2024. CME said she will also join the board when she takes over as CEO.
- Her appointment puts her among a small group of women leading large Wall Street market operators, alongside executives such as Nasdaq's Adena Friedman and Citigroup's Jane Fraser.
For CME, the next CEO inherits a company still dominant in regulated futures, with an average daily volume of 28.1 million contracts last year, but facing pressure from faster-moving rivals that are trying to make markets trade more like crypto.
More context: ICE, CME push Washington to rein in Hyperliquid oil trading