The Chicago-based cryptocurrency alternate Bitnomial has launched futures tied to Tezos’s XTZ token, marking the primary time the asset has a futures market on a US Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee-regulated alternate.
Based on Wednesday’s announcement, the futures contracts are stay and permit institutional and retail merchants to achieve publicity to XTZ (XTZ) value actions utilizing both cryptocurrency or US {dollars} as margin.
Futures contracts let merchants hedge threat or achieve value publicity by agreeing to purchase or promote an asset at a set value on a future date, with out holding the asset itself.
Regulated futures markets are sometimes considered as a prerequisite for broader institutional participation within the US, together with potential spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs), as a result of they supply standardized value discovery and oversight beneath the CFTC.
“CFTC-regulated futures market with six months of buying and selling historical past checks a key field beneath the SEC’s generic itemizing requirements for spot ETFs,” Bitnomial president Michael Dunn mentioned.
Dunn instructed Cointelegraph the corporate is “actively new tokens” for potential US institutional and retail derivatives markets, however declined to touch upon particular property.
Beforehand, Bitnomial listed US-regulated futures tied to property together with Cardano (ADA), XRP (XRP) and Aptos (APT), positioning it among the many few venues providing regulated crypto derivatives past Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) within the US.
Bitnomial’s push to record futures tied to altcoins has not been with out regulatory hurdles. In August 2024, the alternate sought to self-certify XRP futures with the CFTC, however the Securities and Trade Fee (SEC) objected, arguing the contracts required registration as a securities alternate.
After suing the SEC in October 2025 and later dropping the case, Bitnomial launched XRP futures in March, citing the company’s evolving method to crypto coverage.
Associated: CFTC points no-action letter to Bitnomial, clearing method for occasion contracts
A quick historical past of Tezos
Tezos’ mainnet launched in June 2018 following a 2017 preliminary coin providing that raised about $232 million in Bitcoin and Ether. Whereas not the primary proof-of-stake blockchain, Tezos was among the many earliest layer-1 networks to mix proof-of-stake with formal onchain governance, enabling token holders to approve protocol upgrades that allowed the community to evolve with out arduous forks.
Throughout the 2021–2022 non-fungible token growth, the blockchain carved out a distinct segment as a lower-cost, energy-efficient various to Ethereum for minting and buying and selling NFTs. As Ethereum gasoline charges surged, artists and recreation publishers corresponding to Ubisoft gravitated to Tezos, citing decrease transaction prices and the community’s proof-of-stake design.
Throughout these years, Tezos additionally secured high-profile sports activities partnerships with Pink Bull Racing and McLaren Racing, and was later reported to be making ready a multi-year coaching package sponsorship with Manchester United valued at greater than $27 million per 12 months.
Tezos’ native token, XTZ, hit an all-time excessive of $9.12 in October 2021, in accordance with CoinGecko information, however has since fallen about 95% and is now buying and selling round $0.46.
On Jan. 25, Tezos applied its Tallinn protocol improve, slicing base-layer block occasions to 6 seconds as a part of the community’s twentieth onchain improve.
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