The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has approved Coinbase Derivatives Exchange’s application to list futures contracts linked to Dogecoin (DOGE), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Litecoin (LTC).
The listing is expected to begin trading after April 1, 2024, according to the filing. The CFTC website says all three contracts were certified on March 7.
As the news gained public attention on March 20, each of the three tokens experienced above-average price increases. As of press time, DOGE is up 16.1%, BCH is up 11.4%, and LTC is up 7.8%.
In comparison, the overall cryptocurrency market rose 6.2%.
Coinbase Derivatives currently offers institutional and retail scale contracts for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). We also offer crude oil contracts.
Regulation as a product
Coinbase’s decision to pursue futures listings for DOGE, BCH, and LTC could have broader implications regarding their origins.
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart suggested the exchange may have chosen the three digital assets because each was originally based on Bitcoin code, which is widely considered a commodity by most regulators.
According to Seyffart:
“This will force the SEC to draw boundaries between securities and products beyond ‘we said so.’”
Meanwhile, Scott Johnsson, general counsel and general counsel at Van Buren Capital. suggested Coinbase’s application could be the first of many. He wrote:
“The tsunami is starting. “I was curious when Coinbase would do something like this.”
Johnson said a change in U.S. leadership could attract more support and hinted that listing such futures would be a “necessary prerequisite” for a spot cryptocurrency ETF.
The SEC famously had to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF after losing a legal battle with Grayscale. The court ruled that regulators’ decisions to block ETFs for years were “arbitrary.”
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