US alternate Nasdaq has filed a rule change with the Securities and Trade Fee to take away limits on choices tied to identify Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds, in a transfer to align crypto ETF choices with guidelines utilized to different commodity-based funds.
The proposal, filed on Jan. 7 and made efficient on Wednesday, lifts the prevailing 25,000-contract limits on choices linked to a spread of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) ETFs listed on Nasdaq, together with merchandise from BlackRock, Constancy, Bitwise, Grayscale, ARK/21Shares and VanEck, in line with the submitting.
The SEC waived its commonplace 30-day ready interval, permitting the rule change to take impact instantly, whereas retaining the authority to droop the change inside 60 days if it determines additional assessment is warranted.
Choices are monetary contracts that give merchants the correct, however not the duty, to purchase or promote an underlying asset at a set value earlier than a sure date. Exchanges and regulators usually impose limits on choices buying and selling to scale back the danger of extreme hypothesis, market manipulation and concentrated positions that might amplify volatility or threaten market stability.
Nasdaq stated the change would enable the alternate to deal with digital property “in the identical method as all different choices that qualify for itemizing,” arguing that the proposal would eradicate unequal remedy with out compromising investor safety.
The SEC has opened a remark interval on the proposal, with a closing willpower anticipated by late February until the rule is suspended for additional assessment.
The submitting builds on Nasdaq’s approval late in 2025 to record choices on single-asset crypto ETFs as commodity-based trusts, a transfer that allowed Bitcoin and Ether ETF choices to commerce on the alternate however left current place and train limits in place.
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Nasdaq expands its function in crypto markets
Nasdaq has been steadily increasing its function in crypto markets, from pushing tokenized equities and unifying crypto indexes to loosening derivatives guidelines round Bitcoin ETFs.
In November, Nasdaq filed a proposal with the SEC to increase place limits on choices tied to BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Belief (IBIT) from 250,000 contracts to 1 million, citing rising demand and arguing that the prevailing cap constrained hedging and different buying and selling methods.
The identical month, Nasdaq’s head of digital property technique, Matt Savarese, advised CNBC the alternate was prioritizing regulatory approval to supply tokenized variations of its listed shares, pledging to maneuver shortly by way of the SEC’s assessment course of as public feedback and company suggestions are addressed.
In January, Nasdaq and CME Group introduced plans to unify their crypto benchmarks, rebranding the Nasdaq Crypto Index because the Nasdaq-CME Crypto Index, a multi-asset index that tracks main cryptocurrencies together with BTC, ETH, XRP (XRP), Solana (SOL), Chainlink (LINK), Cardano (ADA) and Avalanche (AVAX).
Nasdaq is a US inventory alternate operator that runs digital markets for equities, derivatives and exchange-traded merchandise and is a significant itemizing venue for expertise and growth-oriented firms.
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