The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved options trading on Ethereum exchange-traded funds. Filings on Wednesday show that the regulator approved trading options for BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust, along with the Bitwise Ethereum ETF and Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust and Ethereum Mini Trust. The Ethereum ETFs allow investors to gain exposure to digital assets without the need to buy and store the virtual coin themselves. Options give investors the right to buy or sell an asset at a predetermined price by a set date.
Crypto options are popular because they allow investors to gain exposure to the performance of an asset, rather than just investing in it. Traders are able to bet on the future price of a digital coin, and the market for doing so is much bigger than the spot one. Options trading on ETFs adds more liquidity to the crypto investment space, experts previously told Decrypt. The regulator last year approved Ethereum ETFs just months after giving their Bitcoin counterparts the green light. The SEC also approved options trading on the Bitcoin funds.
