The CME has hinted at launching futures contracts for XRP and SOL in February. According to their report, a whopping 29.4 million crypto futures contracts traded in 2024, totaling over $1.7 trillion.
On their website, the CME mentioned that these futures could debut as early as February 10, pending regulatory approval. They initially had details about these contracts, but the information was later removed.
For SOL, the standard futures contract will have a lot size of 500 SOL, while the micro contract will be 25 SOL. As for XRP, the standard futures contracts will feature a lot size of 50,000 XRP, and the micro contracts will be 2,500 XRP. All contracts for both assets will settle in US dollars.
Since President Donald Trump’s reelection and Gary Gensler’s resignation from the SEC, there’s been a surge in applications for crypto ETFs and futures products. Gensler’s departure has led many financial firms to submit applications, anticipating a friendlier regulatory environment.
On January 15, VanEck applied for its Onchain Economy ETF. This fund aims to invest in “digital transformation companies” and digital asset instruments but won’t hold crypto directly. These companies include software developers, mining firms, crypto exchanges, and payment service providers.
On January 17, ProShares filed for a Solana futures ETF. ETF analyst James Seyffart noted that this is particularly interesting since there are currently no SOL futures contracts available on the CME.
WisdomTree also got in on the action, applying for an XRP ETF in December 2024. This made them the fourth firm to submit such an application. Other firms, like Bitwise, 21Shares, and Canary Capital, have also filed for XRP ETFs.
WisdomTree’s proposed XRP ETF will initially settle in US dollars. However, future versions might include in-kind settlement mechanisms if the SEC approves.