The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is willing to approve Ethereum futures contract provided they receive relevant applications which tick all the required boxes.
“I think we can get comfortable with an Ether derivative being under our jurisdiction,” said the CFTC Insider. “A derivatives exchange comes to us and says ‘we want to launch this particular product.’ … If they came to us with a particular derivative that met our requirements, I think that there’s a good chance that it would be [allowed to be] self-certified by us,” he added.
It is rumored that the CBOE (Chicago Board Options Exchange) May Be Gearing Up To Offer Ethereum Futures.
The news indicates:
- CFTC’s desire to approve a new relevant Futures Contract.
- Ethereum is positioned next to Bitcoin in the Futures Contract Pipeline.
- Ethereum contract would be a shot in the arm to the Ethereum Community.
- CFTC will have a regulatory hold on the Top 2 cryptocurrencies.
The CFTC has been showing an interest in Ethereum since last year, when, on December 11, 2018, it rolled out an RFI (Request for Information) to seek Public Comments on Ethereum’s Mechanics and Markets in order to better inform the Commission’s understanding of the technology, mechanics, and markets for virtual currencies beyond Bitcoin, namely Ether and its use on the Ethereum Network.
The RFI consisted of 25 questions on the below categories:
- Purpose and Functionality
- Technology
- Governance
- Markets, Oversight, and Regulation
- Cyber Security and Custody
It is to be noted that, Bitcoin Futures was the first to be approved by the CFTC, when, on December 1, 2017, it published a statement that the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME) and the CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE) self-certified new contracts for bitcoin futures products, and the Cantor Exchange (Cantor) self-certified a new contract for bitcoin binary options.
The Bitcoin futures might have caused the Bull Run of 2017, however, it might have also lead to the Price Decline of Bitcoin (BTC) when the price dropped from 20000 USD to 6200 USD.
