CME Group will begin offering new options contracts based on Ether futures on September 12. The new contracts are a full-sized version of the group’s current micro-sized Ether option and deliver one ether future for 50 Ether per contract. The CME CF Ether-Dollar reference rate will serve as their foundation (which also serves as the daily reference rate for the US dollar price of Ether). CME Group’s Current Cryptocurrency Offering The contracts expand CME Group’s current cryptocurrency offering, which includes Bitcoin and micro-sized Bitcoin options introduced in March 2021. Tim McCourt, global head of equity and FX products at CME Group, said, “The launch of these new options contracts builds on the significant growth and deep liquidity we have seen in our existing Ether futures, which have traded more than 1.8 million contracts to date,” Ethereum Protocol Merge Market participants supporting the roll-out of the new options include those who want to give their clients more hedging choices in the digital asset industry. The Digital Assets Head of Brokering at TP ICAP, Sam Newman, said that with the impending Ethereum protocol Merge, the company expects tremendous interest from both their traditional and crypto-native clients. Ryan Duckworth, head of trading at US-based Akuna Capital, stated that they look forward to providing liquidity to allow customers to hedge risk and manage exposure to Ether as the demand for crypto deriv...
