Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group, a major derivatives marketplace, is set to launch Ether euro futures contracts and Bitcoin euro trades from August 29 onwards.
CME Group announced on Thursday that it intends to introduce contracts for euro-denominated Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) futures with contract sizes of 5 BTC and 50 ETH, respectively, subject to regulatory review.
The CME CF Bitcoin-Euro Reference Rate and CME CF Ether-Euro Reference Rate will serve as the basis for both contracts, which will be posted on the exchange and cash-settled.
“Ongoing uncertainty in cryptocurrency markets, along with the robust growth and deep liquidity of our existing Bitcoin and Ether futures, is creating increased demand for risk management solutions by institutional investors outside the U.S,” said CME Group global head of equity and FX products Tim McCourt.
McCourt added that Euro-denominated cryptocurrencies are the second most traded fiat, second only to the US dollar.
Based on McCourt’s statements, Europe, the Middle East and Africa accounted for 28% of all trading for BTC and ETH futures contracts.
The listing announcement came after euro – for first time in 20 years – reached its parity with the U.S. dollar in July. For now, 1 EUR is worth around $1.02 in USD.
In December 2017, CME Group launched the first BTC futures contract priced in U.S. dollars. In February 2021, ETH futures contract was launched. The derivatives exchange added micro BTC and ETH futures to its crypto investment instruments in March.
According to the report in July, a total of 10,700 BTC and 6,100 ETH derivatives contracts trades were performed in Q2 2022.
Also, based on Q2 2022 reports from CME Group, the average daily volume of its micro BTC and ETH products are at 17,400 and 21,300 contracts respectively
