On March 13, the American derivatives market CME announced the launch of Bitcoin (BTC) futures event contracts. The exchange, which is fully regulated and has eliminated administrative review, will therefore facilitate a fixed, daily expiring contract linked to Bitcoin futures in “a low-cost way for investors to trade views on the rise or fall of the price of bitcoin Tim McCourt, head of global equity and FX products at CME Group, commented:
Our new event contracts on Bitcoin futures provide a limited risk, highly transparent way for various investors to access the bitcoin market through a fully regulated exchange. These daily expiring contracts will complement our existing suite of over 550,000 contracts traded to date.
On March 10, Cointelegraph reported that asset manager VanEck’s Bitcoin trust application was rejected by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The commissioner noted that the SEC has rejected every application for a Bitcoin trust that has been submitted, nearly 20 in the past six years.
The previous day, digital currency management company Grayscale published transcripts related to the lawsuit filed with the SEC regarding the refusal of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) to be converted into an exchange fund. According to the transcript, judge Neomi Rao commented:
“Because it seems to me, I mean, you know, one is just a derivative of the other. They go together 99.9% of the time. So where’s the gap in the Commission’s view?”
Currently, GBTC is trading at a 38.19% discount to net asset value, from the lowest 50%. The company’s litigation with the SEC is ongoing.