On March 13, the US derivatives market CME Announced the launch of Bitcoin (BTC) futures event contracts. The exchange, which is fully regulated and has passed administrative review, will henceforth facilitate cash-settled daily expiration contracts linked to Bitcoin futures with a “cheaper way for investors to exchange their views on movements.” bitcoin price rise or fall”. Tim McCourt, CME Group Global Head of Equity and Currency Products, commented:
Our new Bitcoin futures event contracts provide a highly transparent, limited-risk way for a wide range of investors to access the bitcoin market through a fully regulated exchange. These cash-settled, daily expiring contracts will further complement our existing suite which has traded over 550,000 contracts to date.
On March 10, Cointelegraph reported that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has rejected asset manager VanEck’s Bitcoin spot trustee application. The commissioners noted that the SEC had denied every application for a Bitcoin spot trust that had been filed, numbering nearly 20 in the last six years.
Days earlier, digital currency management firm Grayscale released a transcript related to its ongoing lawsuit with the SEC over the denial of its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) to become an exchange-traded fund. According to the transcript, Judge Neomi Rao commented:
“Because it seems to me that these things, I mean, you know, one is essentially a derivative of the other. They move together 99.9% of the time. So where is the gap in the Commission’s opinion?”
GBTC is currently trading at a 38.19% discount to NAV, compared to an all-time low of 50%. The firm’s litigation with the SEC is ongoing.
