United States regulator the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is open to the idea of ether (ETH) futures trading, cryptocurrency industry news outlet CoinDesk reported on May 6.
The publication quoted an unnamed official, who appeared to say that ETH-based futures would be a reasonable product for consideration and approval should it meet the CFTC’s various requirements.
The comments come around 18 months after the first cryptocurrency futures contracts got the green light from the U.S. in December 2017.
Launched by CBOE and CME Group, both futures contracts focused exclusively on bitcoin (BTC).
“I think we can get comfortable with an ether derivative being under our jurisdiction,” the official told CoinDesk. The unnamed official continued:
“If they came to us with a particular derivative that met our requirements, I think that there’s a good chance that it would be [allowed to be] self-certified by us.”
Ether remains the largest altcoin by market cap, having occasionally lost its footing to XRP, which the CFTC appeared not to mention in the latest comments.
Last week, J. Christopher Giancarlo, the outgoing CFTC chairman, said in a speech that the agency expected no let-up in appetites for cryptocurrency.
“The Commission anticipates new applications for clearinghouse registration resulting from the explosion of interest in cryptocurrencies; an area in which protection of the cryptocurrencies will be one of the highest risks,” he summarized.
Similarly, former chairman Gary Gensler said at a separate event that regulation was essential in order for the cryptocurrency sector to prosper.
