The Chicago Board Options Exchange or CBOE said it is not adding a Cboe Bitcoin or XBT futures contract for trading in March.
As per the statement, Cboe Futures Exchange, LLC or CFE, which adds the contracts, is re-evaluating how to approach trading of digital assets.
CFE, a unit of the exchange holding company Cboe Global Markets, provided the contracts list that has been or will be added in March and the beginning of April 2019.
However, Cboe said the currently listed bitcoin futures contracts remain available for trading. XBTM19, the currently listed bitcoin futures, will expire in June.
It was in December 2017 that Cboe launched Bitcoin futures trading, amid the significant growth in demand and value for bitcoin. It was followed closely by its competitor, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange or CME. The trading volume of Cboe’s bitcoin futures were disappointing.
In early last year, Director of the European Central Bank or ECB had warned that a move by financial market infrastructures such as stock exchanges to add bitcoin futures to their platforms is a threat to the financial stability of the entire banking system.
Cboe, which has been continuing its efforts to list a bitcoin exchange-traded fund or ETF, in early February re-applied to the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission for a rule change.
The application was given along with asset manager VanEck and crypto start-up SolidX Management LLC. The SEC is yet to take a decision.
