That structure also removes the risk of early assignment, which sets these apart from options tied to spot Bitcoin ETFs that have been available to investors.
They are tied to the Nasdaq Bitcoin Index, a benchmark that tracks one one-hundredth of the CME CF BTC Real Time Index, which pulls pricing data from major cryptocurrency exchanges every 200 milliseconds.
CME Group filed a comment letter last October arguing the new contracts fall under the CFTC’s exclusive authority. The SEC pushed back, writing in its order that shared jurisdiction between the two regulators is not new, citing mixed swaps and security futures as existing examples, and referencing Section 717 of the Dodd-Frank Act as the legal basis for concurrent oversight.
The approval fits a broader shift underway at the SEC under Chairman Paul Atkins. The agency has moved to drop several enforcement cases against crypto firms that were launched under the previous administration, and Atkins has called publicly for clearer rules that support innovation.
Reports indicate the SEC is also preparing what it calls an innovation exemption that would allow tokenized trading of public company shares on decentralized crypto platforms, even without consent from the companies involved.
The Philadelphia Stock Exchange will host the new QBTC contracts once both regulators have signed off, marking another step in Wall Street’s growing embrace of Bitcoin-linked financial products.
Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
