Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (“CME”) has announced the expansion of its cryptocurrency product portfolio with the launch of euro-denominated Bitcoin and Ethereum futures. The two new crypto derivatives products have been cleared by the regulators and listed on CME on Monday.
Key takeaways:
- According to the company’s press release, both Bitcoin Euro and Ether Euro futures contracts will be cash-settled following CME’s own BTC/EUR and ETH/EUR reference rates.
- Bitcoin futures contracts will be sized at 5 BTC, whereas Ethereum futures will be sized at 50 ETH per contract.
- “The launch of these new futures contracts builds on the strong growth and deep liquidity we have seen in our existing U.S. dollar-denominated Bitcoin and Ether futures contracts,” noted Tim McCourt, Global Head of Equity and FX Products at CME Group.
- The launch of regularly sized euro-denominated BTC and ETH futures follows CME’s announcement from earlier this month, when the derivatives giant revealed its plans to launch options on Ethereum futures in mid-September.
- Chicago-based CME Group is the world’s largest financial derivatives exchange, with nearly $197 billion in total assets as of 2021. The firm enables investors to trade a wide range of asset classes, including agricultural products, currencies, energy, interest rates, metals, stock indexes, and crypto futures.
