Nine years after Satoshi Nakamoto circulated his whitepaper and introduced the world to bitcoin, regulated bitcoin derivatives are about to be introduced in the United States. CME Group recently announced that it will begin to offer bitcoin futures based on the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate later this year[1] and the Chicago Board Options Exchange has announced it will begin listing bitcoin futures contracts in Q1 2018.[2] Ahead of any futures contract launch, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo revealed that he does not feel that any new laws or regulations are necessary to accommodate the new bitcoin futures products or digital assets generally. Read the full report on our sister site the FinTech Update.
[1] The contract specifications are available here.
[2] CME's press release is available here. CBOE's press release is available here.
This article is presented for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal advice.