Cboe is telling market makers that it is close to launching ether futures - and it could mark a big step in the crypto's evolution

Frank Polich/Reuters

Traders in the Eurodollar options pit at the Chicago Board of Trade signal orders, shortly after the Federal Reserve's decision to leave short-term interest rates untouched between zero and 0.25 percent, in Chicago.

• Cboe, the exchange group behind the first market for bitcoin futures, is telling market makers that ether futures will soon be live.
  
• The exchange is waiting on additional clarity from the CFTC, a person with knowledge of the situation said.
• The launch of ether futures would mark a significant step in ether's maturation as it could open the door to wider trading in the crypto and possibly an ETF.

Cboe Global Markets, the exchange behind the first market for bitcoin futures, is telling market makers it is close to rolling out futures for ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, people familiar with the situation told Business Insider. The product may launch by the end of 2018, one of the people said.

Futures, which provide investors a way to bet on the future price of an asset, helped propel bitcoin to all-time highs at the end of December. Bitcoin future markets, which include Cboe and CME in the US, have been relatively muted since their launch in December.

Still, the launch of ether futures would mark a significant step in ether's maturation as it could open the door to wider trading in the crypto and possibly an ETF.

Cboe will be basing its futures on Gemini's underlying market, people familiar with the situation said. Cboe also based its bitcoin futures on the New York-based crypto exchange run by the Winklevoss twins. The futures and options exchange is waiting on the Commodities Futures Trading Commission to get comfortable with the product before its official launch, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

A Securities and Exchange Commission director in June notably said the agency didn't view the trading of ether as violating securities law which could bode well for Cboe.

Cboe president Chris Concannon has previously hinted at the launch of other products tied to crypto markets.

Concannon said in December 2017 that a family of cryptocurrency products, including futures for ether and bitcoin cash, could come to fruition as the market continues to mature.

"We started down this road in the form of an ETF," he said. "A healthy market is a healthy underlying market, derivatives markets, and an ETF. That will take time."

Meanwhile, rival CME Group's CEO Terry Duffy has said ether futures won't go live on his venue any time soon.

"I will take a wait and see approach with Bitcoin for now," Duffy told Bloomberg in July.

Bats Global Markets, which was acquired by Cboe earlier this year, attempted to list a bitcoin exchange-traded fund from the Winklevoss twins. That attempt was rejected by regulators twice.

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