CME Group set to launch ether futures options in September

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) said Thursday it plans to launch options on ether (ETH-USD) futures on Sept. 12, a move that expands the exchange's cryptocurrency options contracts and could occur before the expected ether Merge on Sept. 15.The new contracts deliver one ether futures, sized at 50 ether (ETH-USD) per contract and based on the CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference rate, which serve as a once-a-day reference rate of the U.S. dollar price of ether."The launch of these new options contracts builds on the significant growth and deep liquidity we have seen in our existing Ether futures, which have traded more than 1.8 million contracts to date," said Tim McCourt, global head of Equity and FX Products at CME Group (CME). "As we approach the highly anticipated Ethereum Merge next month, we continue to see market participants turn to CME Group to manage ether price risk."In June, a report from Traders of Crypto named ether (ETH-USD), Verge (XVG-USD) and dogecoin (DOGE-USD) as the most profitable cryptocurrencies to mine.