TechFlow News, May 24: According to FinanceFeeds, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved Nasdaq’s listing of cash-settled Bitcoin index options on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol QBTC. These are European-style options linked to the Nasdaq Bitcoin Index, which tracks 1% of the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate. The reference price is updated every 200 milliseconds.
QBTC options are cash-settled: at expiration, holders receive the difference between the spot Bitcoin price and the strike price, with no physical delivery required. The SEC mandates a minimum tick size of $0.01 and sets a single-side position limit of 24,000 contracts—approximately 0.12% of Bitcoin’s circulating supply.
However, since Bitcoin is classified as a commodity in the United States, this product must also obtain an exemption approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) before trading can commence. This SEC approval marks one of several initiatives undertaken during current SEC Chair Paul Atkins’ tenure to integrate cryptocurrency markets into formal regulatory frameworks.
