CME Group announces itBit as constituent exchange for Ether reference rate and index

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has announced the addition of itBit as a constituent exchange for the calculation of the CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate and Real-Time Index.

The CME Group made the announcement via a tweet. itBit will start serving as a price source to the calculation of the said reference rate and index from July 15.

“The CME CF Ether-Dollar rates will provide a standardized reference rate and spot price index to bring confidence to any trading strategy. Major cryptocurrency exchanges Bitstamp, Kraken, and itBit provide the pricing data to bring our dependable rate to the market,” CME said.

Crypto Facilities will continue to act as the administrator of the indexes, the company said. CME said that itBit fulfilled its criteria to be included as a constituent exchange for the calculation of the indexes, The Block reported.

Notably, itBit, owned by fintech company Paxos, is on the list of trusted exchanges from Bitwise Asset Management included in a report which triggered the crucial debate on the fake reported volumes on cryptocurrency exchanges, Forklog reported. It is also included in the list of trusted exchanges by OpenMarketCap.

Industry sources told The Block that the addition of itBit could mean that CME is getting closer to launching Ethereum futures. When asked about the same, CME told the media outlet that it is focused on its ether index and reference rate.

CME launched bitcoin futures back in 2017 which its own Bitcoin Reference Rate. In a report dated July 03, CoinDesk stated that over 2,960 accounts have traded CME’s bitcoin futures since launch, adding that more than 950 new accounts have been created in 2019 alone – a 30 percent surge in total client sign-ups.