CME Group To Launch Ether Futures In September

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group, a leading derivative exchange, has released a statement announcing plans to launch options on Ether futures on 12 September while it awaits regulatory review.

New option to offer clients more flexibility

Tim McCourt, Global Head of Equity and FX Products, at CME group stated that the new addition of ETH futures will increase growth and liquidity already seen in the existing Ether futures which has traded over 1.8 million contracts till date

 As we approach the highly anticipated Ethereum Merge next month, we continue to see market participants turn to CME Group to manage ether price risk. Our new Ether options will offer a wide array of clients greater flexibility and added precision to manage their ether exposure ahead of market moving events, Said McCourt

Ahead of Ethereum’s merge slated for  15 September, CME group has signed new contracts that will include ETH futures trading options and will also ‘expand CME Group’s existing suite of Cryptocurrency options contracts, which include Bitcoin options, as well as micro-sized Bitcoin and Ether options.’

The Ether futures to launch in September is weighed at 50 ether per contract based on the CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate, which serves as a once-a-day reference rate of the U.S. dollar price of ETH.

Ethereum’s merge mainnet checklist complete

Tim Beiko, one of Ethereum’s core developers confirmed that the Mainnet is ready to merge with the beacon chain in a tweet earlier today. In less than a month, if all goes well, the Ethereum blockchain will be upgraded from proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake mechanism which is more energy efficient.

The checklist is for Ethereum’s developers to check specifications, testing, testnets and R&D. The final testnet Goerli went live a while ago and it was successful.

According to Beiko, things like the implementation of software and upgrades for the consensus and execution layer, authentication of Engine API, and releasing public documents have all been checked.