Key takeout
CME Group will provide XRP futures starting May 19, awaiting regulatory review. SEC and Ripple’s payment requests were denied and a $125 million fine was maintained.
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The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group, the world’s leading derivatives market, is set to launch XRP and MicroXRP futures contracts on Monday, May 19th, aiming to expand its suite of regulated crypto derivatives to sell its fourth-largest digital assets.
The agreement will be traded on CME Globex, cleared via CME Clearport, and access will begin for participants on Sunday evening, May 18th and Sunday, May 18th, as stated in the CME notification.
Each XRP futures contract represents 50,000 XRP, while microXRP futures represents 2,500 XRP. Prices vary depending on the type of attendee and venue.
CME Group confirmed in April that it plans to launch its first XRP futures contract with regulatory approval pending.
In an April statement, Giovanni Vicioso, global head of cryptocurrency products at CME Group, said: “We are pleased to launch these new futures contracts to provide a capital-efficient set of tools to support our clients’ investment and hedging strategies.”
XRP products expand CME’s existing crypto derivatives lineup. This already includes contracts related to Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana. CME debuted Solana Futures in March.
The company’s first quarter crypto derivatives trade saw its daily volume rise 141% year-on-year to 198,000 contracts, or $11.3 billion in anticipation.
The future developments come as an effort to resolve the SEC’s long-term lawsuit against Ripple, the company behind XRP.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Annalisa Torres, the federal judge who will be the main side of the case, rejected a joint request to approve a settlement that would reduce Ripple’s civil penalty from $125 million to $50 million.
Calling it procedurally inappropriate, Judge Torres explained that the motion failed to meet Rule 60.
The decision lives on Ripple’s legal challenges and casts uncertainty on the timeline of Spot XRP ETF approvals that remains in the SEC review.
Still, the introduction of CME XRP futures has led institutional investors to regulate exposure to XRP price movements at a time when interest in crypto derivatives is growing.
Last month, Coinbase announced a list of XRP futures contracts, including standard XRP futures and Nano XRP Futures for regulated derivative exchanges.
The XRP price has been relatively stable at around $2.3 per Coingecko over the past 24 hours.
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