CME Group — the world’s largest operator of financial derivatives markets, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange — has launched euro-denominated futures on Bitcoin and Ether.
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Fast facts
- Six euro-denominated Bitcoin futures contracts were sold on Monday, while Ethereum futures sold five.
- In derivatives, “futures” are contracts in which the investor must buy or sell the underlying asset at a given price on the expiration date.
- EUR-denominated Bitcoin and Ether futures contract sizes are 5 BTC and 50 ETH per contract, respectively, according to CME’s announcement.
- “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,” said Tim McCourt, Global Head of Equity and FX Products, CME Group.
- In August, CME Group announced it will launch Ethereum futures options on Sept. 12, before the expected completion of Ethereum’s “Merge” — a planned upgrade of one of the world’s largest blockchain networks.
- CME already has multiple cryptocurrency futures and options. It launched its earliest cryptocurrency futures, Bitcoin futures, in 2017, then Ethereum futures in 2021, followed by micro-sized Ethereum and micro Bitcoin futures in 2022.
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