CME Group in Chicago, one of the world’s largest derivative marketplaces, is working with CF Benchmarks, a leading provider of crypto benchmark indices, to unveil roughly 11 new crypto reference rates by April 25.
CME Group Seeks to Permits Full Price Transparency
The reference rates in question are not for tradable futures products. Instead, they will apply to a wide array of separate crypto networks such as bitcoin cash, Litecoin, Cosmos, Polygon, Solana, Stellar Lumens, and Cardano to name a few.
Tim McCourt – the global head of equity and FX products at CME Group – explained in an interview:
As the digital asset market continues to expand, there is an increasing demand for reliable, standardized cryptocurrency pricing information based on robust, regulated reference rates. These new benchmarks, which capture over 90 percent of the total investable cryptocurrency market cap today, are designed to allow traders, institutions and other users to confidently and more accurately manage cryptocurrency price risk, price portfolios or create structured products like ETFs.
These new real-time indices will provide around-the-clock price transparency for all the assets listed above as well as several others. Price data for these indices will be offered by several leading crypto exchanges and related firms including Coinbase, Gemini, and Kraken. LMAX will also join the ranks beginning on May 3 of this year.
Sui Chung – CEO of CFO Benchmarks – mentioned:
Extending the CME CF Cryptocurrency Reference Rates and Real Time Indices further underlines the commitment of both CF Benchmarks and CME Group to serving investors of all types with robust benchmark pricing across a wider range of cryptocurrency assets. This also further adds to the continued adoption of the digital asset class through regulated investment products and funds.
Additional comments came from Juthica Chou, head of OTC options trading at Kraken. Chou said:
Enhancing market infrastructure means a broader range of investors can easily engage in the digital asset class. The launch of 11 new indices opens the door for traditional investors to gain exposure to a much broader range of cryptocurrencies through a suite of products they are already familiar with.
Elliot Johnson – the chief investment officer at Evolve ETFs – also threw his two cents into the mix, stating:
Evolve’s physical-crypto ETFs rely on CME CF Reference Rates to provide liquidity, tight tracking and reliable NAV for investors. We’re very excited to see the CME CF index family expanding to lay the foundation for new, innovative ETFs in this highly coveted asset class.
A Lot of Networks Need This
Lastly, Joshua Lim – head of derivatives at General Global Trading – was quick to say:
The transparency and robustness of the new CME CF Reference Rates enable a much broader range of products representing the diversity of crypto assets. We’re excited to be a liquidity partner on the variety of instruments that will be built on top of them.
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