The US Justice Department has joined business groups and decentralized finance (DeFi) firms in a legal challenge to a crypto tax in Illinois. Cointelegraph reported the challenge on Nov 12, 2026.
The dispute is over how the tax works. It applies to a crypto transaction even when that transaction makes no profit. In their court filings, the industry groups argued that this could raise compliance costs and could violate federal law.
The report does not say how the court has responded, when a ruling might come, or how Illinois has answered the filings. It also does not give the tax rate or list which kinds of transactions are covered. Those points are still unknown.
For someone who already holds a perpetual futures position on Bitget, Bybit, MEXC or OKX, nothing changes directly from this story. The report says nothing about funding rates, trading fees or liquidity on those exchanges, and it does not say whether the Illinois tax covers derivatives. Any effect would depend on how the court case ends and on how the tax applies to each trader, and neither is known yet.
Source: cointelegraph — US Justice Department, business groups and DeFi firms challenge Illinois crypto tax