First U.S. Ethereum Futures Contracts Launched By ErisX
- The first physically-settled futures contracts for the 2nd largest crypto by market cap will be regulated by the CFTC.
- The new offer came only days after the exchange obtained the lucrative New York virtual currency license.
The first ever Ethereum (ETH) futures contracts in the U.S. have now been launched by crypto derivatives platform ErisX, the company said in a blog post on 11 May.
According to the announcement, futures contracts for the second largest cryptocurrency, which have monthly and quarterly expirations, can already be accessed by individual and institutional investors in the U.S.. The exchange has also pointed out that its new futures contracts will be physically settled, meaning upon their expiry the contracts deliver actual tokens, rather than the fiat equivalent.
The blog post stated:
“Starting today individual and institutional investors can access physically delivered futures contracts based on ETH-USD with monthly and quarterly expirations. The ErisX futures exchange trades alongside the ErisX spot market on a unified and innovative platform enabling price transparency and collateral efficiencies.”
The exchange will use its existing infrastructure to introduce the new standardized futures contracts, which will be regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The new contracts come only a week after the exchange secured a virtual currency license from the New York Department of Financial Services, originally referred to as the BitLicense, which allows the company to start offering trading services in the state.
The Chicago-based crypto exchange has been eyeing Ethereum-based futures contracts for over a year now. Back in February 2019, the exchange submitted a comment letter to the CFTC, summarizing the benefits of regulated ETH futures contracts. Later, in July 2019, ErisX secured itself a derivatives clearing organization license from the CFTC, allowing it to trade digital asset futures contracts on its derivatives market. Finally, in December, the exchange started offering trading on futures for digital currency products like Bitcoin (BTC)
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