According to Cointelegraph, the US stock exchange Nasdaq plans to launch Bitcoin options (XBTX) linked to the CME CF Bitcoin Real-Time Index and is currently awaiting regulatory approval. Nasdaq Vice President Greg Ferrari said this would be an important milestone in the maturity of the digital asset market.
In August, the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq International Securities withdrew four applications related to BTC options. On August 8, the US exchange Cboe submitted a revised application for BTC options to the SEC. Nasdaq's XBTX options differ from past proposals because they track a benchmark index rather than an ETF.
Bloomberg predicts that spot BTC options will be available in the fourth quarter. CME Group plans to launch small-cap Bitcoin futures pegged to the same benchmark in September. U.S. investors can currently trade derivatives-based BTC ETF options, but not ETF options that actually hold Bitcoin.
As of August 20, the open interest of CME BTC futures contracts was close to 30,000 contracts, with each contract size being 5 BTC. According to data from The Options Clearing Corporation, as of August 9, the notional value of open options contracts on BTC futures ETFs exceeded $3.25 billion.