- CME Group plans to launch Bitcoin Cash and Uniswap futures on Oct. 19, pending regulatory review, in both standard and Micro sizes: 250 BCH and 25 BCH per contract, and 10,000 UNI and 1,000 UNI per contract.
- The new contracts extend CME's single-asset crypto suite, which already covers Bitcoin, Ether, XRP, Solana, Cardano, Chainlink, Stellar, Avalanche and Sui.
- CME crypto futures and options averaged 279,800 contracts of daily volume in H1 2026, equal to $8.3B notional, with average open interest of 264,600 contracts worth $15.4B; altcoin futures added more than $1B notional year to date.
- CME sued the CFTC over its approval of Kalshi and Coinbase perpetual futures, arguing the approval violates the Commodity Exchange Act and threatens CME's retail futures business.
- Coinbase filed for regulatory approval to offer perpetual futures tied to roughly 50 to 60 major US stocks, including Apple, Microsoft, Tesla and Nvidia.
Quotes
“As crypto markets continue to mature, participants require broader, regulated tools to navigate evolving digital asset related price risk”
“Designed for greater versatility and capital efficiency, these new BCH and UNI contracts allow clients to manage price risk and gain exposure to key crypto networks within our 24/7, regulated marketplace.”
“disaster waiting to happen”