CME Guns for XRP Futures Launch—Wall Street’s ETF Hopes Ride on Crypto’s Problem Child
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) just threw gasoline on XRP’s smoldering credibility—announcing futures contracts for the SEC’s favorite legal punching bag.
Why it matters: Institutional money needs regulated on-ramps. No futures, no ETF. Simple as that. Even for an asset that makes compliance officers break out in hives.
The cynical take: Watch hedge funds pretend they’ve always believed in Ripple’s ’utility’ now that there’s a derivatives market to hedge their bets. Because nothing screams ’decentralized future’ like CME’s clearinghouse taking a cut.
CME to launch XRP futures weeks after its Solana product went live
Derivatives exchange CME Group intends to list XRP futures as part of its suite of crypto products. The product is set to go live on May 19, pending a review by regulators.
The XRP futures will allow traders to speculate on the price of XRP without owning the underlying cryptocurrency. The contracts will be cash-settled, meaning any gains or losses will be settled in US Dollars (USD) instead of delivering actual XRP tokens when the contract expires.
The pricing of these contracts will be based on the CME CF XRP-Dollar Reference Rate, which is a benchmark price representing the US Dollar value of XRP. The rate will be calculated once a day at 16:00 GMT using data from major crypto exchanges, ensuring a consistent and transparent settlement price.
Investors in the CME Group’s XRP futures will be eligible to trade micro-sized contracts containing up to 2,500 XRP and larger-sized contracts with up to 50,000 XRP.
"Interest in XRP and its underlying ledger (XRPL) has steadily increased as institutional and retail adoption for the network grows, and we are pleased to launch these new futures contracts to provide a capital-efficient toolset to support clients’ investment and hedging strategies," said Giovanni Vicioso, Global Head of Cryptocurrency Products at CME Group, in a press release.
The XRP futures adds to the exchange’s existing product suite, which includes Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana futures.
Crypto community members are anticipating that the CME’s XRP futures launch may strengthen the chances of regulatory approval for several spot XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) cited the CME’s Bitcoin and Ethereum futures price feeds as key references during the approval process of ETF filings for both cryptocurrencies.
XRP held steady at $2.21 at publication time, recovering from an earlier decline of $2.13. The remittance-based token is up 6% in the weekly timeframe.
