Exchange operator CBOE beats CME to launch of bitcoin futures contract

Cboe Global Markets Inc. will launch its bitcoin futures contract on December 10, just over a week ahead of rival CME Group Inc., as the exchange operator takes the next step toward launching an exchange-traded fund based on the digital currency.

Bitcoin’s price has soared tenfold this year, prompting many market participants to warn of a bubble as it topped $11,000 for the first time last week.

Bitcoin futures and other derivatives would make it easier for more investors and speculators to trade the new asset class.

Cboe’s bitcoin futures contract will trade under the ticker symbol XBT and will be cash-settled based on the auction price from cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, Cboe said on Monday.

CME’s bitcoin futures contract launches December 18 and will be available for trading on the CME Globex electronic trading platform, the world’s biggest derivatives exchange said on Friday.

Cboe and CME were given approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to list bitcoin futures last Friday after the they were able to show that their proposals met the necessary regulatory requirements.

The exchanges also had to agree to work together to monitor for manipulation, flash rallies, trading outages and other structural problems in the largely unregulated bitcoin-cash market.

Once liquidity builds in the Cboe bitcoin futures contract and the exchanges are able to show how their oversight of the underlying market works, Cboe plans to reapply with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to launch a bitcoin ETF, CEO Ed Tilly said in an interview on Friday.

So far, the SEC has not allowed bitcoin-based ETFs on the CBOE or elsewhere, partly because of concerns about the unregulated aspect of bitcoin.