Ethereum pumped 6.41% on May 6th after rumors began circulating online that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is willing to approve Ether futures contracts so long as they can meet the necessary standards for regulation. The news was first broken by CoinDesk from who they are claiming to be a high level CFTC insider with knowledge of the potential regulation. This may be more than speculation however, as in 2017 the CFTC approved Bitcoin futures contracts for trading through both Cboe Global Exchange and CME Group, which offer cash settled Bitcoin futures.
“A derivatives exchange comes to us and says ‘we want to launch this particular product’, If they came to us with a particular derivative that met our requirements, I think that there’s a good chance that it would be [allowed to be] self-certified by us.”
It’s believed that regulating Ether futures will open the product up to significantly more institutional development as many investment firms are weary of returns in cryptocurrency and would rather have funds paid out in fiat so as not to worry about custody of said cryptocurrency pay outs. This would be a boon to long term adoption as it would expose cryptocurrency trading to people that employ investments firms to manage their money. Having more investments firms on board and trading such contracts would also reassure retail investors who would see a boost in liquidity in Ether trading.
In December of last year the CFTC issued a Request for Information which is meant to gain feedback from the public on Ether. However, the “public” they are seeking to hear from isn’t just anyone, as the groups that stepped forward contained the likes of Craig Wright, Coinbase, the Chamber of Digital Commerce and the think tank Coin Center. 35 comments in all were submitted in response to the RFI, with most being positive and calling for regulations on Ether to better allow the CFTC to more easily monitor the market for manipulation.
“It’s critically important for us to engage in outreach to understand the variety in technologies, markets, and the differences in the community; if we’re just listening to our own voices inside the building, the loudest voices in business, or just the voices in D.C. we could miss out on the bigger picture,” said George Pullen, a senior economist with the CFTC Division of Market Oversight.
Ultimately it remains to be seen if, or when, Ethereum futures will receive regulation in the US, but all signs are now seeming to point to yes. This will hopefully be a boon to the overall cryptocurrency world as it will expose cryptocurrency to more people, and importantly, more institutional level investors. Currently, these rumors are causing a positive uptrend in the Ether market, with prices currently at 176.42USD as of 14:32 SGT.
The article was researched and written by Joseph Imbruglia of the Bybit Cryptocurrency Research Team.
