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Ethereum Futures: CBOE Chief Says SEC Decision Clears the Way

Georgi Georgiev | Jun 15, 2018 | 13:00

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Following SEC’s announcement which separated both Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) from securities, CBOE’s President said that this could increase the chances of regulators signing off on Ethereum futures.

The Market Rebounds

On June 14^th, the SEC officially announced that it won’t consider Bitcoin bitcoin and Ether as securities, thus putting the long wait to its end. Naturally, the market responded immediately.

Despite being in a state of major correction, the overall cryptocurrency market saw gains of almost $20bln in just a few hours after the news broke out, marking an increase of almost 7 percent according to CoinMarketCap.

Prices of Bitcoin and Ether rose accordingly. The former spiked with about 5 percent, while the latter soared with as much as 11 percent hours after the announcement.

Ethereum Futures Ahead?

Following the SEC’s Thursday announcement, Chris Concannon, President of CBOE Global Markets Inc., expressed his delight with the way things turned out:

We are pleased with the SEC’s decision to provide clarity with respect to current Ether transactions. […] This announcement clears a key stumbling block for Ether futures, the case for which we’ve been considering since we launched the first Bitcoin futures in December 2017.

He also said that this would increase the chances that regulators will sign off on potential Ether futures. Notably, CBOE launched Bitcoin futures in December, 2017.

A Rising Concern

Brian Kelly, also highlighted the announcement of CBOE’s Chief:

*CBOE SAYS SEC'S COMMENTS REMOVES OBSTACLE TO ETHER FUTURES

— Brian Kelly (@BKBrianKelly) June 14, 2018

The community, however, doesn’t seem to be exactly sure if this is a good sign. Rising concern can be noticed in the comments below Kelly’s tweet. People are referencing Bitcoin’s price decline pursuant to the BTC futures launch that Concannon mentioned.

And they are right to do so. Earlier this year, the San Francisco Federal Reserve issued a report, essentially linking the decline of Bitcoin’s price with the BTC futures launch in December. Just recently Tom Lee also expressed similar concerns.

Whether we will see Ether futures launched and if this will affect the second largest cryptocurrency’s price the same way it did for Bitcoin is something we have yet to see.

Do you think potential Ethereum futures will be good for its price? Or will it follow the course of Bitcoin? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!

Images courtesy of CoinMarketCap; Shutterstock