CME Group is probably getting ready to launch futures contracts for Solana (SOL) and XRP, primarily based on experiences and pictures shared on social media on Jan. 22.
Nevertheless, CME Group has but to make a public assertion on the matter, and neither confirmed nor denied the authenticity of the photographs as of press time, resulting in rampant hypothesis.
The knowledge first surfaced when an X consumer, recognized as Summers, shared a screenshot of an alleged CME web page used for testing. This web page, which was down as of press time, is about for a pre-launch on Feb. 10.
Alex Thorn, head of analysis at Galaxy Digital, later shared photographs revealing that CME would provide futures and micro futures contracts for each belongings, all of which might be settled in money.
The Solana futures contract has a dimension of 500 SOL, whereas the micro is 25 SOL. The XRP futures contract is sized at 50,000 XRP, and its micro model has a 2,500 XRP dimension.
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart cautioned that the web page might be faux. Nevertheless, he added that futures contracts for SOL and XRP make sense and are “largely to be anticipated.”
Seyffart additionally famous that if the photographs and web site are faux, it could be a “good fakeout.”
In the meantime, Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas stated he expects an exchange-traded fund (ETF) monitoring SOL futures as early as mid-March. He additionally questioned the demand for such a product since a spot SOL ETF is probably going coming quickly.
Over 30 ETFs
The US market is experiencing a wave of crypto-related ETF filings. Seyffart just lately highlighted that 33 ETFs, filed by 13 totally different issuers, are at present awaiting approval by the US Securities and Trade Fee (SEC),
Along with ETFs filed final 12 months, monitoring XRP, SOL, Hedera (HBAR), Litecoin (LTC), and baskets of belongings, funds tied to memecoins additionally surfaced.
On Jan. 21, Rex Shares filed for seven totally different spot ETFs, three of them tied to the memecoins Official Trump (TRUMP), Dogecoin (DOGE), and Bonk (BONK). Balchunas remarked that the scenario was “surreal.”
Though Bloomberg ETF analysts anticipated a wave of crypto ETF filings this 12 months, they didn’t embody memecoin-indexed spot funds of their predictions.
Matthew Sigel, head of digital belongings analysis at VanEck, referred to as on the SEC to revert the ETF approvals to the method of “first-come, first-served” amid the rise in new purposes.