BlockFi, a financial services company dedicated to building a bridge between cryptocurrencies and traditional financial and wealth management products, today announced with CMT Digital that the companies have cleared the first-ever block trade for Ethereum futures on the CME, facilitated by ED&F Man Capital Markets Inc. CMT Digital is a leader in cryptocurrency trading and venture capital, and BlockFi offers the premiere institutional lending desk in the digital asset space. BlockFi also has a growing OTC trading offering, which includes bundled financing to address the needs of institutional investors.
Both companies are excited to participate in the launch of CME’s Ethereum futures product. Futures contracts allow institutions to access an asset class in a regulated, centrally cleared format and are used by institutions for both directional exposure and arbitrage strategies. CME also offers Bitcoin futures, which are actively traded with more than $2 billion in open interest, allowing traditional firms to obtain crypto exposure through a regulated product. Futures are also popular for basis arbitrage, which lets market participants provide or receive synthetic financing. BlockFi is one of the leading OTC desks for arbitrageurs trading the spot leg of such transactions, with best-in-class lending rates.
Yevgeniy Feldman, Vice President for Institutional Services at BlockFi, stated, “We are constantly improving our trading infrastructure to address the needs of the institutional community. Block trades are an important part of the traditional futures ecosystem, as they let participants access liquidity quickly and efficiently, with transparent pricing provided by an OTC desk, such as BlockFi.”