‘Haven’t given up on Bitcoin Futures,’ says CBOE CEO

According to CBOE Global Market’s CEO Ed Tilly, the exchange is still hopeful of a comeback into the cryptocurrency space. In a recent interview given to Bloomberg, Tilly commented that the CBOE hasn’t given up on Bitcoin Futures yet, despite the prior setbacks it has had in the sector. 

The exchange officially filed to list shares of VanEck’s Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) on 2 March, hoping to get approval for the company’s application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Now, the Regulatory board has 45 days to either approve or reject the application or just extend the review process.

When asked about the motivations behind the same, Tilly commented,  

“We’re keen on building out the entire platform. There’s a lot of demand from retail and institutions, and we need to be there.”

Recently, CBOE Global acquired Chi-X Asia Pacific with an aim to cater to the Australian and Japanese markets, two of the world’s largest markets. 

CBOE definitely has come a long way considering its troubled past. It first launched Bitcoin Futures listings in 2017, but it ended its offering after two years. What’s more, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), CBOE’s closest rival, went live with its Ether Futures offerings in February. Both of these exchanges had made huge gains in late 2017 when each introduced a Bitcoin Futures contract. 

Interest in cryptocurrencies has skyrocketed lately, with more and more institutions acknowledging and embracing the cryptocurrency market. In fact, the timing of Tilly’s statements seems to be right too, especially after Elon Musk’s latest tweet about the acceptance of Bitcoin as a form of payment for Tesla.