CME Group and CF Benchmarks to Launch Three New Cryptocurrency Reference Rates and Real-Time Indices

October 6, 2022 - CME Group, a derivatives marketplace, and CF Benchmarks, the cryptocurrency benchmark indices provider, announced plans to launch three new cryptocurrency reference rates and real-time indices, which will be calculated and published daily by CF Benchmarks, beginning October 31.

These reference rates and indices are not tradable futures products. They include the following:

• Avalanche (AVAX)
• Filecoin (FIL)
• Tezos (XTZ)

"Together with bitcoin, ether and other available cryptocurrencies, CME CF Reference Rates and Real-Time Indices will capture more than 92% of the investable cryptocurrency market capitalization," said Giovanni Vicioso, CME Group Global Head of Cryptocurrency Products. "These new benchmarks are designed to allow traders, institutions and other users to access a much broader range of cryptocurrencies through a suite of products they are already familiar with, allowing them to confidently and more accurately manage cryptocurrency price risk, value portfolios or create structured products like ETFs."

CME CF Reference Rates and Real-Time Indices are based on methodologies that have regular expert oversight and are designed to meet the growing need for transparent, regulated and round-the-clock pricing.

Several leading crypto exchanges and trading platforms will provide pricing data for these new benchmarks, starting initially with Bitstamp, Coinbase, Gemini, itBit, Kraken, and LMAX Digital. Each coin will trade on a minimum of two of these constituent exchanges.

"Investors are increasingly seeking exposure to a wider range of cryptocurrencies as they learn more about the potential of the digital asset class," said Sui Chung, CEO of CF Benchmarks. "Regulated investment products, spearheaded by CME Group's Crypto derivative suite, have helped open crypto to a much wider range of investors. Through its robust reference rates, CF Benchmarks is proud to be able to facilitate the creation of regulated financial products for this new asset class so investors can seek and manage exposure with confidence."

"The introduction of new products at CME Group is both exciting and necessary, as investors demand a focused exchange where safety and risk are a primary priority," said Bill Cannon, Head of Portfolio Management at Valkyrie Investments. "This expansion provides functional accessibility to a variety of new and unique financial products, bridging the ever-narrowing gap between traditional and decentralized financial markets. We find that these types of innovations, especially at the current point in the cycle, will help build a stronger foundation in digital assets and create new channels of growth considering the amount of investment currently entering the sector."

Each of these new reference rates will provide the U.S. dollar price of each digital asset, published once-a-day at 4 p.m. London time, while each respective real-time index will be published once per second, 24 hours a day, 365 days per year.