The Chicago Board of Options Exchange (CBOE) expects to follow in the footsteps of their Bitcoin Futures contracts and offer the same for Ethereum. This is according to a report this past weekend from Business Insider.
According to the write up, ETH Futures will launch before the end of the year with the only hurdle being clarifications from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) – the regulator that overseas the futures markets. The CFTC has been adamantly supportive of innovations in the virtual currency sector and has vocally encourage the sector to experiment and grow – as long as the sector remains compliant to existing rules.
Ether or ETH was recently declared not a security by the Securities and Exchange Commission in a speech by SEC CorpFin Director Bill Hinman. During a Yahoo Finance conference, Hinman stated;
“… And putting aside the fundraising that accompanied the creation of Ether, based on my understanding of the present state of Ether, the Ethereum network and its decentralized structure, current offers and sales of Ether are not securities transactions. And, as with Bitcoin, applying the disclosure regime of the federal securities laws to current transactions in Ether would seem to add little value.”
The pronouncement from SEC leadership has been deemed as an important step in the regulatory process of virtual currencies. SEC Chairman Jay Clayton voiced his support for Hinman’s statement in a speech last week in Nashville. Chair Clayton recommended that attendees at his presentation review Hinman’s speech as it “outlined the approach staff takes to evaluate whether a digital asset is a security.”
The stars appear to have aligned sufficiently for the CBOE to add ETH to its list of tradable futures. The addition of ETH trading will help to legitimizing the emerging digital currency market. The report also stated that Gemini, the same crypto exchange used for the BTC futures, will be leveraged to provide the necessary data for the ETH Futures contracts.
Ethereum is the second largest crypto following Bitcoin in terms of market cap. A recent market cap pegged ETH at over $29 billion and a price in USD of $288.00 per ETH.
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