CME Announces Launch of its Ether Futures In February 2021, ETH price Up 5.6%

Finally, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the first to launch Bitcoin futures in December 2017 has come with yet another major announcement. After a long wait of three years, CME has finally announced the launch of Ether (ETH) futures next year in February 2021.

Just like its Bitcoin Futures, the CME Ether Futures will be cash-settled based on the CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate. Tim McCourt, CME Group Global Head of Equity Index and Alternative Investment Products said:

“Based on increasing client demand and robust growth in our Bitcoin futures and options markets, we believe the addition of Ether futures will provide our clients with a valuable tool to trade and hedge this growing cryptocurrency.

Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency by both market capitalization and daily volume. The introduction of listed Ether futures to our time-tested, regulated CME Group derivatives marketplace will help to create a forward curve so Ethereum market participants can better manage price risk.”

Rising Institutional Demand for Ethereum (ETH)

After Bitcoin, Ethereum remains the top investment choice in crypto for institutional players. Over the last few months, institutional inflows in Ethereum have shot up. Also, digital asset manager Grayscale has been stacking up ETH every week. Currently, the Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) holds $1.7 billion worth of assets under management.

The ETHE alone contributes over 12% of Grayscale’s total crypto portfolio. Also, the shares of the Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) have surged nearly 275% in Q4 2020 so far.

As of writing this article, the crypto markets have gone crazy as Bitcoin breaks past $20,000 levels and is currently trading at its new all-time high of $20,570 levels. At the same time, ETH price has also shot 5.6% and is currently trading at $618 with a market cap of $79.4 billion.

The Ethereum network has also seen some important development this year. The rising in DeFi has also made ETH one of the most transacted cryptocurrencies in 2020. Also, the recent launch of Ethereum 2.0 Beacon Chain has kickstarted the journey for the Ethereum PoS blockchain network.