Bitcoin ETF Options Are 'Sooner Than You Think' As Top Fed Official Suddenly Flips On Bitcoin

Bitcoin has exploded higher this year, with the bitcoin price boosted by the debut of BlackRock's spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) and chief executive Larry Fink's embrace of bitcoin.

Bitcoin price has exploded higher this year, driven by the debut of BlackRock’s spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) and chief executive Larry Fink’s embrace of bitcoin. Now, as a top Federal Reserve official flips on bitcoin, the stage is set for a huge U.S. spot bitcoin ETF earthquake.

Bitcoin spot ETFs, which have surged to become some of the fastest-growing ETFs of all-time following their January debut—led by BlackRock’s $42 billion bitcoin fund—could be about to be approved for options trading after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued an advisory notice.

"In light of relevant precedents in the courts, it is substantially likely these spot commodity ETF shares would be held to be securities," a CFTC spokesperson wrote. "Therefore, [the Division of Clearing and Risk's] DCR position is the listing of these shares on [Security and Exchange Commission] SEC-registered national securities exchanges does not implicate the CFTC’s jurisdiction, and hence, the clearing of these options by OCC would be undertaken in its capacity as a registered clearing agency subject to SEC oversight."

Bitcoin spot ETF options were given the green light by the U.S. SEC in September, with the CFTC notice the "second hurdle they needed to clear," according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas.

Options trading for the fleet of a dozen U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs is expected to "attract more liquidity which will in turn attract more big fish" to the market as institutions and market regulators warm up to the technology.

"The CFTC just dropped a notice clearing the way for spot bitcoin ETF options to be listed," Balchunas posted to X, adding he'd expect the options to list "very soon."

"Bitcoin ETF options are sooner than you think," Jeff Park, head of alpha strategies at Bitwise, posted to X, calling the listing of options trading "the most significant market structure change for bitcoin since the ETF launch."

BlackRock’s bitcoin fund has grown by $13 billion since Donald Trump's U.S. election victory, with BlackRock’s fund said to have soaked up 85% of the record $1.3 billion of inflows that hit the combined U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs on the Thursday after the election, according to Kaiko Research.

Cathie Wood, a so-called innovation and disruption investor who runs the Ark Invest fund, has reiterated her $1.5 million bitcoin price prediction—which she expects will make bitcoin a $30 trillion asset by 2030.

"We have a 2030 target in our base case, it’s around $650,000, in our bull case, it’s between $1 million and $1.5 million," Wood told CNBC, adding "regulatory relief" in the wake of Donald Trump's presidential victory and increased interest from Wall Street will fuel a bitcoin price boom.

"It is a new asset class and what that means is institutions, and asset allocators are saying 'this asset is behaving differently from all our other assets and we need to include it,'" Wood said.