According to CoinDesk, GSR, a crypto trading firm, has announced the successful completion of an options transaction tied to the CoinDesk 20 (CD20) Index. The transaction was carried out with St. Gotthard Wealth, a Zug-based asset manager, acting as the counterparty. The CD20 index, which was launched in January, is a broad-based market index for cryptocurrencies, akin to the Dow Jones average for U.S. equities. The largest constituents of the CD20 are bitcoin, at 30%, ether at 19%, SOL at 19% and XRP at 7%.
Rich Rosenblum, co-founder and co-CEO of GSR, expressed his enthusiasm about the firm's central role in the expansion of the market. He stated that options are a powerful tool for managing risk and volatility. Ruchir Gupta, head of options and treasury at GSR, echoed this sentiment in an email, stating that derivatives on crypto indices like CD20 provide investors with an efficient way to manage their exposure to the broader market.
The CD20 index has generated approximately $6 billion in perpetual futures volume over the past six months. It is often seen that a vibrant futures market is a prerequisite for options. Bullish, the cryptocurrency exchange that owns CoinDesk, offers perpetual futures contracts tied to the CoinDesk 20, allowing traders to take bets on the broader market. The CD20 traded above 2,000 throughout the Asia Wednesday business day, up 2% in the last 24 hours.