Cboe Sees ‘Need to Move Quickly’ in Crypto Following Exchange Acquisition

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Takeaways

  • ErisX operator of the crypto futures market and clearinghouse will be rebranded Cboe Digital
  • Cboe has a unique position to offer physical transaction exchange and basis trading in the years following the acquisition.

Cboe Global Markets closed the acquisition of ErisX by Cboe Global Markets, and executives from both companies say they plan to quickly integrate while digital assets markets are still hot. 

Cboe Chicago announced the first deal in six months.

ErisX is a US-based spot digital asset market as well as an exchange for futures and clearinghouse. ErisX will rebrand the company as Cboe Digital. It will operate as a subsidiary under ErisX CEO Thomas Chippas.

Chippas, Blockworks reported that ErisX, which had 55 employees at the time it was acquired, will benefit from Cboe’s greater resources. 

“We get to find crossover opportunities and product development opportunities to grow the existing Cboe customer base, but [we have] complete freedom to continue new digital asset products over here at ErisX,” Chippas said.  

Cboe’s Chief Operating Officer Chris Isaacson referred to the acquisition “super complementary,” Addition of the new product gives the Company its first presence within the digital asset sector.

“We’ll integrate only where it makes sense, but we realize that in this asset class we need to move quickly,” He told Blockworks. “Keeping that agility with this wholly-owned subsidiary is a great move.”  

Cboe is the US’s largest exchange for options. Cboe’s stock exchanges see an average daily trade of $86.5billion. US Options contracts are traded on average 9.8 millions per day, and US Futures contracts 213,000. 

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Planned products

Matt Trudeau is the Chief Operating officer of ErisX. He said that adding margin to the clearinghouse was the most important thing for the firm in the immediate future. The company has filed an application with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to provide margin crypto futures which are physically settled as well as cash settled.

Cboe Digital is also looking to extend its offerings of spot bitcoins, bitcoin cash and litecoin beyond the current bitcoin, bitcoin-cash, ether, litecoin.

Trudeau, Blockworks reported, said that Cboe will be uniquely placed to provide products such as exchanges for physical transactions and basis trading in the futures and spot markets.

“One of the things we expect to be able to do is offer those products more efficiently from an operational and cost standpoint than anybody who’s got a standalone cash-settled futures market or a standalone spot market,” “He said”

Cboe also intends to develop a benchmark data stream — based on actionable bid and offer prices from the spot crypto market — to help market participants evaluate the appropriateness of crypto execution prices, the company said in a statement.

If you want to bridge the gap between TradFi (Trad-Fi) and Crypto

Isaacson stated that ErisX’s ability to innovate was a major factor in the purchase. “intermediary-friendly platform.” The deal was estimated at $400 million, according to data by M&A advisory firm Architect Partners. The sale price was not disclosed by the companies. 

“It will allow for traditional finance players that are more and more capable and ready to adopt digital assets to now come on and adopt the asset class,” “He said”

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In a recent research note, Ryan McCulloch of Architect Partners said that traditional financial institutions need to be exposed to crypto. “table stakes.” He compared the Cboe/ErisX agreement to other “so-called” deals “bridge transactions” Between companies such as Deutsche Borse Group and Crypto Finance, Mastercard and Cipher Trace and PayPal and Curv.

“As the crypto sector develops, consolidation via acquisition will continue as traditional players continue to choose the buy over build option,” McCulloch wrote. “ErisX isn’t the largest crypto derivatives exchange, but their focus throughout development on robust regulatory compliance is a major driver of value to traditional financial players such as Cboe.”

Chippas stated that many traditional institutions have already gotten involved with crypto. He added that the opportunity for growth is huge.  

“There are lots of people today that want to access these products that are unwilling to open an account for one asset class at one particular provider,” “He said” “They’re looking to access these products via the traditional intermediaries.”

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leadzevs/ author of the article

LeadZevs (John Lesley) is an experienced trader specializing in technical analysis and forecasting of the cryptocurrency market. He has over 10 years of experience with a wide range of markets and assets - currencies, indices and commodities.John is the author of popular topics on major forums with millions of views and works as both an analyst and a professional trader for both clients and himself.

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