Cboe Digital is set to expand its instrument universe with new margined Bitcoin and Ether futures, due to launch next January.
With this move, Cboe Digital is the first US regulated crypto native combined exchange and clearinghouse that enables spot and leveraged derivatives trading on a single platform.
The launch of the new futures is supported by both traditional and crypto market participants including B2C2, BlockFills, CQG, Cumberland DRW, Jump Trading Group, Marex, StoneX Financial, Talos, tastytrade, Trading Technologies and Wedbush.
Cboe Digital president, John Palmer, labelled it a “significant milestone” for the venue
“Futures have long served as valuable hedging instruments in the traditional financial markets, and we couldn’t be more excited to extend access to this tool further into the digital assets markets and offer margined trading for our customers,” he said.
“We believe derivatives will foster additional liquidity and hedging opportunities in crypto and represent the next critical step in this market’s continued growth.”
The new instruments will complement Cboe Digital’s existing offering of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ether, Litecoin and USDC trading on its spot crypto market.
The digital assets markets were rocked earlier this year by the fallout of cryptocurrency exchange, FTX. The events unearthed great chasms of unregulated territory within the digital assets markets and sparked major concerns around their financial stability – in particular around subsidiaries and linked companies working under one exchange umbrella.
Core to Cboe Digital’s strategy is its separation of duties to remove conflicts of interest, the exchange said in a release. The venue uses an intermediary-inclusive model and an integrated exchange-clearinghouse.
“Cboe Digital’s offer in providing secure access to regulated futures markets is key to maturing this nascent asset class and enabling broader institutional participation,” said Chris Zuehlke, global head of Cumberland DRW. “We are pleased to support and provide liquidity to Cboe’s markets.”