(Kitco News) - The approaching Ethereum Merge remains the talk of the crypto ecosystem as the top smart contract platform’s final transition to proof-of-stake is now less than three days away.
CME Group, home of the world’s largest derivatives exchange, is looking to capture the momentum of the Merge through the launch of Ether options, which the company announced via a press release on Sept. 12.
Tim McCourt, Global Head of Equity and FX Products at CME Group, called the Merge “a potentially game-changing update of one of the largest cryptocurrency networks” in the announcement and said that the launch of these new options contracts will help “to provide the crypto community with another important tool to gain access to and manage exposure to ether.”
This is a well-timed move on the part of CME Group comes as Ether derivates have been surging in recent weeks in anticipation of the Merge. August was the first month in the history of the asset class where Ether futures trading volumes surpassed that of Bitcoin (BTC) futures, demonstrating the rising demand.
"Our new options contracts will also complement CME Group's Ether futures which have seen a 43% increase in average daily volume year over year,” McCourt said of the new launch amid increased interest.
The new options contracts offer larger entities a trusted way to hedge their cryptocurrency exposure without needing to actually purchase Ether straight out, according to Rob Strebel, Head of Relationship Management for DRW.
"Options are an essential part of the trading strategy deployed by Cumberland's institutional counterparties, whether that's to hedge risk or gain exposure to the asset class without having it on their balance sheets," Strebel said in the announcement. “As Ether transitions through the anticipated merge this week, we expect we'll continue to see strong demand for this Ether options contract."
The new contracts will deliver one Ether future, sized at 50 Ether per contract, with the price based on CME’s CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate, which serves as a once-a-day reference rate of the U.S. dollar price of Ether.
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| Ethereum futures volume and transaction count surpass Bitcoin ahead of the Merge |
Google adds a Merge countdown clock
For those who want to stay up to date with the exact timing of the Merge in order to best position themselves for any price movements, Google recently revealed that it had added a Merge countdown clock.
This past Friday, Google Cloud blockchain developer Sam Padilla posted a note on Twitter demonstrating the new Google Search update, which includes a real-time Ethereum Merge countdown with merging pandas.
Hey @VitalikButerin @drakefjustin & other @ethereum folks, go google "the merge" for a fun little surprise & appreciation.
— Sam Padilla (@theSamPadilla) September 9, 2022
Everyone is so excited for what is coming and appreciative of the work that has been going into this for years. pic.twitter.com/3bgifV6Ywn
At the time of writing, the Ethereum Merge is expected to occur in less than two days and 19 hours based on its hash rate of 849 TH/s and current difficulty levels. Price-wise, Ether is down 1.81% on the day, trading at a price of $1,730, while the Ether dominance rate is 19.9%
