US CFTC has approved the SBI subsidiary to offer an OTC for Bitcoin derivatives.
SBI Holdings subsidiary Clear Market has received approval from the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission to offer over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives products with the physical settlement.
Following the approval, SBI’s Clear Market will start handling U.S. dollar-dominated BTC trading pairs with physical settlements in the United States.
According to an announcement, Clear Market will commence operations in the U.S. by first offering BTC/USD derivatives. However, the market maker will expand its offering soon.
It is worth noting that the development is the first time a crypto-related derivative will be approved as a Swap Execution Facility (SEF).
according to SBI’s official announcement:
“Clear Markets North America Inc. (CM US), which operates over-the-counter derivatives trading platforms in the U.S., U.K., and Japan, in which the SBI Group has a stake, has announced that the U.S. regulator Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) ) has given approval for over-the-counter crypto asset derivative products that are premised on physical settlement. This approval is the first case for the Swap Execution Facility (SEF)*1, a financial derivatives trading license in the United States. CM US will first start handling USD/BTC and plans to expand the products offered in the future.”
SBI Alpha to Increase Its U.S. Partners
According to the announcement, SBI Alpha has already conducted pilot transactions on the Clear Market platform. Interestingly, SBI Alpha is already planning to expand its partner in the U.S. via Clear Market.
“We will continue to focus on investing in and partnering with digital asset-related venture companies that possess high technological capabilities and will seek synergies with existing digital asset-related companies within the SBI Group,” an excerpt of the announcement reads.
SBI Intends to Build Transparency for Cryptos
Several Bitcoin derivative markets are operated by companies that have no regulatory approval from relevant authorities. Based on this, there is a need to improve transparency and supervision for the future development of the emerging market, Hence, it is necessary to seek approval for its Bitcoin ETF from the CFTC.
SBI describes CFTC’s approval of its Bitcoin derivatives as a major step toward building transparency and supervision for the industry.
It is noteworthy that SBI obtained a 12% stake in Clear Market in August 2018. At the time, SBI hinted that it would increase its stake in the company in the near future.
SBI noted then that the investment was made to establish a crypto derivative platform for institutional investors.
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