CFTC Clears Cboe to Offer Crypto Margin Trading on Futures Exchange

This Monday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved Cboe’s request to offer Bitcoin and Ethereum margin trading on its cryptocurrency futures exchange. The trading is expected to become available in the second half of the year.

Cboe To Offer BTC and ETH Margin Trading in Second Half of 2023

On June 5th, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced it had approved Cboe’s request to start offering margin trading on its cryptocurrency futures exchange. Thanks to the regulator’s decision, margin trading of BTH and ETH will become available in the second half of the year.

CFTC Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero praised Cboe for its willingness and eagerness to work with the regulator with regard to the registration. She also commented that she has been vocal both about the dangers and the benefits of “bringing appropriate crypto activities into the regulated space in order to protect customers, but in a way that supports oversight, accountability, transparency, and risk management”.

Interestingly, in her statement, Commissioner Goldsmith Romero pointed out the differences between Cboe’s proposal and the one made by FTX prior to its collapse describing the latter as one that “put at risk customers’ bankruptcy priority, other customer protections, and financial stability.”

Cboe is a US-registered exchange that offers spot and derivatives trading of various cryptocurrencies including BTC and ETH. It has also stated it intends to expand the offering and has recently made another attempt to gain approval to list ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF.

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Cboe Wating for SEC’s Decision on Spot BTC ETF.

While Cboe reached a milestone with today’s approval, it is currently awaiting a decision by the SEC on the proposed listing of a spot BTC exchange-traded fund. In early May, it made a filing seeking approval to list ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF.

It is uncertain whether the SEC will prove repetitive as it has, so far, struck down every similar attempt. Cboe filing in May is the third attempt to list said exchange-traded fund within about a year.

The Commission has so far rejected applications from multiple firms including One River, Wisdom Tree, Grayscale, and VanEck. It was even sued by Grayscale in the summer of 2022 with the company alleging that the SEC’s rejection was “discriminatory”.

Do you the SEC will be similarly positive toward Cboe with regard to the decision on the spot BTC ETF? Let us know in the comments below.