The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved options trading on Ethereum exchange-traded funds.
Filings on Wednesday show that the regulator approved trading options for BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust, along with the Bitwise Ethereum ETF and Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust and Ethereum Mini Trust.
The Ethereum ETFs allow investors to gain exposure to digital assets without the need to buy and store the virtual coin themselves. Options give investors the right to buy or sell an asset at a predetermined price by a set date.
Crypto options are popular because they allow investors to gain exposure to the performance of an asset, rather than just investing in it. Traders are able to bet on the future price of a digital coin, and the market for doing so is much bigger than the spot one. Options trading on ETFs adds more liquidity to the crypto investment space, experts previously told Decrypt.
The regulator last year approved Ethereum ETFs just months after giving their Bitcoin counterparts the green light. The SEC also approved options trading on the Bitcoin funds.
Cryptocurrency ETFs—managed by the likes of BlackRock, Fidelity, and Grayscale—give investors from top hedge funds to retail investors the ability to invest in the cryptocurrency in an easy and regulated way.
Though the Bitcoin funds have received enormous inflows, pushing the price of the biggest cryptocurrency by market cap to new highs, the Ethereum funds haven’t drawn the same kind of demand.
A number of top asset managers are now hoping to get approval from the regulator to list other ETFs giving investors exposure to altcoins like Solana, XRP, and Dogecoin.
CoinGecko data shows that Ethereum is now trading for $1,675 per coin after surging by more than 14% over the last 24 hours. It’s one of the biggest gainers on the day amid a markets upswing triggered by President Trump’s decision to pause “reciprocal” trade tariffs on most nations.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
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