CME Rival Cboe Suggests its Coming Futures Market Would Include Bitcoin Cash

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) only months old is being floated as a possible addition to a futures offering family by Cboe Global Markets (Cboe). Cboe is looking to differentiate itself from a growing chorus of rivals as it prepares to launch futures contracts by year’s end.

                                            Bitcoin Cash Could be Family

December 2017 began with a giant announcement. Release pr7654-17 from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), titled CFTC Statement on Self-Certification of Bitcoin Products by CME, CFE and Cantor Exchange, began, “Today, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME) and the CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE) self-certified new contracts for bitcoin futures products.”

In financial-speak that means legacy institutions are cleared to enter the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Classic bureaucrat understatement reminded the public of the regulator’s burden: “Bitcoin, a virtual currency, is a commodity unlike any the Commission has dealt with in the past,” the Chairman said. “As a result, we have had extensive discussions with the exchanges regarding the proposed contracts.”

It was presumably a welcome boon to Cboe, which seemed to be lost in media excitement over CME’s firm dating of a futures rollout along with Nasdaq’s mid-2018 bid.

Frank Chaparro reports Cboe looks like it might be willing to up the competition by appealing to more than just one cryptocurrency. Paraphrasing Cboe President Chris Concannon, “the exchange thinks a family of cryptocurrency products, including futures for ether and bitcoin cash, could come to fruition as the market continues to mature.”