CME Will Not Introduce Altcoin Futures Anytime Soon, Says CEO

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) will not introduce futures on cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin (BTC) in the near future, CME CEO Terry Duffy revealed in an interview with Bloomberg July 26.  

In the interview, Duffy said that the company should first evaluate and develop an approach for Bitcoin, stressing that Bitcoin futures “might have been the most controversial launch of a product.”

Duffy emphasized that altcoins futures contracts cannot be launched immediately, because they are “highly volatile and new,” and the company cannot just list products for trading in order “to see where they’re going to go.” Duffy said, “I will take a wait and see approach with Bitcoin for now.”

The CEO reiterated the company’s previous position on launching altcoin futures, having said earlier this year that listing other crypto would be “a little irresponsible right now.”

CME, one of the largest exchanges worldwide, launched Bitcoin futures trading on Dec. 17, a week after BTC futures were introduced by the the biggest U.S. options exchange, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE).

While CME is taking a cautious approach to introducing altcoin futures, its main competitor CBOE is “definitely monitoring other markets,” CBOE’s director for product development Dennis O'Callahan revealed in an interview with Cointelegraph. O'Callahan said, “...we are definitely monitoring other markets to make sure that the infrastructure and everything is in place in case we want to pursue other cryptocurrencies.”

Last week, CME reported that its BTC futures average daily volume (ADV) increased by 93 percent in the second quarter over the first quarter of 2018, while the number of open contracts on Bitcoin futures has exceeded 2,400, which amounted to 58 percent increase since Q1.