Ethereum has spiked by about 10 percent over the last 24 hours following speculation that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) may be ready to approve ETH futures trading.

CFTC Open to Ethereum Futures Trading

Ethereum 00, the second-ranked cryptocurrency by market capitalization is currently trading at $175; a 10 percent spike in the last 24 hours. This surge comes amid reports that the CFTC might grant approval for an ETH futures trading product.

After a rumor came out that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is willing to approve Ethereum futures contract the price of ETH has pumped by 10%. pic.twitter.com/fXonOWkKh6

— ICO Analytics (@ICO_Analytics) May 7, 2019

On Monday (May 6, 2019) a senior official of the Commission who wished to remain anonymous revealed that the CFTC is open to the idea of approving ETH futures trading. Such a move would Ether trading being made readily available to the broader institutional trading arena in the U.S.

Commenting on the matter, the anonymous source said:

I think we [the CFTC] can get comfortable with an ether derivative being under our jurisdiction. We don’t do bold pronouncements; what we do is we look at applications before us. If they [a derivatives exchange platform] came to us with a particular derivative that met our requirements, I think that there’s a good chance that it would be [allowed to be] self-certified by us.

Back in 2017, the CFTC approved Bitcoin futures trading contracts offered by CME and CBOE. These BTC futures trading products offered cash-settled futures contracts.

Ether futures has been a subject of discussion among market commentators since the emergence of CFTC-approved BTC futures. At first, a lack of consensus over whether ETH could be considered security tokens caused some delay.

In mid-2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) cleared the air, saying it didn’t consider ETH to be a security.

At the time, Bitcoinist reported the CBOE President saying the SEC’s decision paves the way for the emergence of ETH futures trading.

Green Day for Bitcoin and Altcoin Market

Elsewhere in the cryptocurrency market, Tuesday (May 7, 2019) is turning to be a green day for Bitcoin and altcoins alike. BTC is currently north of $5,900, up by more than four percent in the last 24 hours and looks set to break the $6,000 mark.

BTC last traded at $6,000 back in November 2018, before the price crash that saw it tumble to $3,100. The total cryptocurrency market capitalization has also grown by almost $10 billion within the last 24-hour trading period.

Do you think the approval of ETH futures will cause the price of Ethereum to reach a new all-time high? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Images via Twitter @ICO_Analytics and Tradingview, Shutterstock

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