Cboe is telling market makers it is close to launching ether futures

Traders
in the Eurodollar options pit at the Chicago Board of Trade
signal orders, shortly after the Federal Reserve’s decision to
leave short-term interest rates untouched between zero and 0.25
percent, in Chicago.
Frank
Polich/Reuters

• Cboe, the exchange group behind the first market for
  bitcoin futures, is telling market makers that ether futures
  will soon be live. 
  
• The exchange is waiting on additional clarity from the
  CFTC, a person with knowledge of the situation
  said. 
• The launch of ether futures would mark a
  significant step in ether’s maturation as it could open the
  door to wider trading in the crypto and possibly an
  ETF.

Cboe Global Markets, the exchange behind the first market for
bitcoin futures, is telling market makers it is close to rolling
out futures for ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by
market capitalization, people familiar with the situation told
Business Insider. The product may launch by the end of 2018, one
of the people said. 

Futures, which provide investors a way to bet on the future price
of an asset,
helped propel bitcoin to all-time highs at the end of
December. Bitcoin future markets, which include Cboe and CME
in the US, have been relatively muted since their launch in
December. 

Still, the launch of ether futures would mark a significant
step in ether’s maturation as it could open the door to wider
trading in the crypto and possibly an ETF. 

Cboe will be basing its futures on Gemini’s underlying market,
people familiar with the situation said. Cboe also based its
bitcoin futures on the New York-based crypto exchange run by the
Winklevoss twins. The futures and options exchange is waiting on
the Commodities Futures Trading Commission to get comfortable
with the product before its official launch, a person with
knowledge of the matter said. 

A Securities and Exchange Commission director in June notably

said the agency didn’t view the trading of ether as violating
securities law which could bode well for Cboe.  

Cboe president Chris Concannon has previously hinted
at the launch of other products tied to crypto markets. 

Concannon said in December 2017 that a family of cryptocurrency
products, including futures for ether and bitcoin cash, could
come to fruition as the market continues to mature. 

“We started down this road in the form of an ETF,” he said. “A
healthy market is a healthy underlying market, derivatives
markets, and an ETF. That will take time.”

Meanwhile, rival CME Group’s CEO Terry Duffy has said ether
futures won’t go live on his venue any time soon. 

“I will take a wait and see approach with Bitcoin for now,” Duffy
told Bloomberg in July. 

Bats Global Markets, which was acquired by Cboe earlier this
year, attempted to list a
bitcoin exchange-traded fund from the Winklevoss twins. That
attempt was rejected by regulators twice. 

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