The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) approved the application CBOE Clear Digital to provide trading margined futures on Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The regulator approved the amended registration process for the platform to clear additional products.
“CBOE Clear Digital can provide clearing services for futures on digital assets on a margin basis for futures commission merchants, in addition to the previously allowed fully margined futures and swaps,” — said Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero.
CBOE Digital Exchange, the parent company of CBOE Clear Digital, is registered with the CFTC as a designated contract market.
“I support the amended registration for CBOE Clear Digital, which will expand the clearing of futures contracts on crypto-assets while remaining within the traditional market structure. The order is accompanied by reasonable risk-reduction measures by CBOE,” —said Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero.
In the official’s view, the platform’s filing “sharply contrasted” with the statement from undergoing bankruptcy FTX “for an individualized market structure without intermediaries, directly client-focused.”
“I have openly spoken about the benefits and integration of relevant crypto activity into the regulated space to protect customers. But in a way that supports oversight, accountability, transparency, and risk management. In recent years, firms associated with digital assets have sought to take a business model or market structure that exists in an unregulated environment and move it into the regulated environment,” she explained.
Unlike FTX, CBOE acted within the parameters of the traditional futures-market structure and regulatory regime. Platform staff “worked constructively to address risk-related issues and take steps to mitigate them.”
In June 2023, the CFTC published a proposal to revise its risk-management rules in light of threats from “emerging technologies” such as cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence.
Back in December 2017, CBOE became the first traditional exchange to launch Bitcoin futures, briefly ahead of its rival—the CME.
In June 2019, amid a bear market, the platform delisted the product.
In May 2022, CBOEacquired the regulated crypto-platform ErisX, renaming it to CBOE Digital Exchange.
In January 2023, the exchange announced an expansion of its cryptocurrency offerings.