Cboe could re-list bitcoin futures, suggests CEO

Exchange giant Cboe Global Markets could re-list bitcoin futures, CEO Ed Tilly has suggested.

"We're still interested in the space, we haven't given up on it," Tilly told Bloomberg in a report published Thursday. "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."

Cboe was the first regulated exchange in the world to list bitcoin futures in December 2017 but decided to stop the offering from June 2019 for reasons unknown. The exchange at the time, however, had not ruled out the possibility of listing crypto derivatives again. It had said it was "assessing" its approach.

Cboe rival CME Group has been offering bitcoin futures since December 2017 and is the largest regulated venue in the space. CME had nearly $3 billion worth of open interest for its bitcoin futures as of March 24, only after Binance, OKEx, and Bybit, which are unregulated exchanges.

Besides bitcoin futures, Cboe appears to be also keen on listing a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Asset managers VanEck and WisdomTree have both separately filed for a bitcoin ETF to be listed on the Cboe bZx Exchange.

"We're very keen to move along approval for the VanEck ETF," said Tilly.

Cboe is also set to launch crypto indexes this year after signing a partnership with trading software firm CoinRoutes last December.