Chicago Board Options Exchange to aquire cryptocurrency market Erisx

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe) has agreed to acquire ErisX, a crypto derivatives and spot market. Cboe invested in ErisX back in 2018.

Why it matters: The move underscores the increasing institutional interest in cryptocurrency investments.

Details: A group, including DRW, Fidelity Digital Assets, Galaxy Digital, Interactive Brokers, NYDIG, Paxos, Robinhood, Virtu Financial and Webull have agree to advise Cboe as part of a committee, and some participants also intend to acquire minority stakes in Cboe Digital (the ErisX rebrand).

The bottom line: "Cboe was among the first companies to try listing bitcoin futures in the U.S., taking its cash-settled futures product live at the end of 2017 just days before CME launched a similar product. ... 'That was an early entry and looking back at it, it was, it was a good entry ... we tend to iterate on products and usually the first iteration of a product is not perfect,' [Cboe COO Chris] Isaacson said." — Nikhilesh De, Coindesk