Digital marketplace ErisX announced the launch of its first U.S. based Exchange-traded Ether futures contracts on 11th May. Following this development, individuals and institutional investors will be able to access physically delivered futures contracts based on ETH-USD with monthly and quarterly expirations.
Following the development, Thomas Chippas, CEO of ErisX commented,
“We strongly believe that the Ethereum blockchain community and broader capital markets benefit from access to regulated products and we are pleased to be the first U.S. exchange to offer these futures contracts. Our contract sizes are accessible for any investor while our technology stack and regulatory framework meet institutional expectations.”
Joseph Lubin, Founder of ConsenSys, an early investor in ErisX also remarked,
“The Ethereum network is the leading programmable blockchain delivering real-world value to enterprises, governments, and individuals. As the digital fuel for the network, Ether is structured similarly to commodities traded in traditional capital markets today.”
The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC] Chairman Heath Tarbert had recently remarked that Ether is a commodity, and therefore it will be regulated under the CEA. At the stage of Yahoo Finance’s All Markets Summit in New York City in October last year, Tarbet had also stated,
“And my guess is that you will see in the near future Ether-related futures contracts and other derivatives potentially traded.”
The Ether futures market has seen impressive growth over the past couple of months and even surpassed $8 billion in March this year. BitMEX has been one of the largest players in the space. However, the Seychelles-based platform has been losing ground to exchanges such as Binance, Huobi, and OKEx. As the market evolved, the volume figures for Ether Futures also rose.
The reason behind the increased market activity of ETH futures can also be attributed to the fact that the ETH 2.0 launch is being monitored closely by investors and stakeholders in the market. Additionally, in terms of spot market as well, Ethereum has been one of the best performers in the first quarter of 2020 which has further reinstated faith in the cryptocurrency and signaled speculative bullishness ahead of the ETH 2.0 launch.
