The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is greenlighting Bitcoin (BTC) options exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for two major US exchanges.
In separate statements, the regulatory agency says it’s approving the bids from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) to list options contracts for BTC-based ETFs.
According to the SEC, the options ETFs were given the nod because it recently approved a rule change proposal from Nasdaq to list options on the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which yielded positive results.
“The Exchange notes that this is a competitive filing as the Commission recently approved a rule proposal by Nasdaq to allow the listing and trading of options on iShares Bitcoin Trust, which is a trust that holds Bitcoin.
As discussed herein, the Exchange believes, like the recently-approved options on IBIT, options on the Bitcoin Funds would permit hedging, and allow for more liquidity, better price efficiency, and less volatility with respect to the underlying funds.
Further, permitting the listing of such options would enhance the transparency and efficiency of markets in these and correlated products.”
In September, Bitwise’s head of alpha strategies Jeff Park said that “things will likely get wild” after the SEC approved Nasdaq’s bid to list BlackRock’s IBIT options.
According to Park, since BTC can’t be diluted by simply creating more, things will be “unbelievably fantastic” for options ETFs.
“In summary, the Bitcoin ETF options market is the first time the financial world will see regulated leverage on a perpetual commodity that is truly supply-constrained.
Things will likely get wild. In such scenarios, regulated markets may shut down. But the remarkable thing about Bitcoin is there will always be a parallel, decentralized market that can’t be shut down, unlike GME (GameStop), which, as you can imagine, will add even more fuel to the fire. It’s going to be unbelievably fantastic.”
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