CME Group Releases Ether Reference Rate & Real-Time Index

The American-based financial company CME Group partners with the British company Crypto Facilities to release a real-time “Ether Reference Rate” and “Ether Real-Time Index“.

The announcement was made on Monday, May 14 through an official Press Release. According to it, the CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate offers “a daily benchmark price in US dollars” daily, while CME CF Ether-Dollar Real-Time Index allows users “access to a real-time Ether price in U.S. dollars”. Users can already consult rates using both CME Group and Crypto Facilities platforms.

To see differences between the two, at the time of writing, the Ether Reference Rate has a value of $ 730.52, while for the Real Time Index, there is a value of $ 732.54.

Source: CME Group

Both indexes are based on the evolution of transactions made by crypto trading platforms Kraken and Bitstamp. According to Press Release, Tim McCourt, CME Group Managing Director of Equity Products stated that “the Ether Reference Rate and Real-Time Index are designed to meet the evolving needs of this marketplace. Providing price transparency and a credible price reference source is a key development for users of ethereum.”

Also, Timo Schlaefer, Crypto Facilities CEO claimed that “Ether, the second largest cryptocurrency, experienced incredible adoption and growth in 2017, evolving into the leading blockchain for smart contracts. We are excited to be contributing to the strong community that has developed around the Ethereum network by providing a reliable reference rate and real-time Ether-Dollar price.”

Both Ether Reference and Ether Real-Time Index will be under the supervision of the Bitcoin Oversight Committee composed of CME Group, Crypto Facilities, and several experts. According to press release, the committee “will regularly review the methodology, practices and standards to protect the integrity of the reference rates.”

The announcement comes in close after Crypto Facilities has begun trading Ethereum Futures. According to the platform, the first Ether Futures Contract was released on 11 May.

For more details about these projects, please visit  www.cmegroup.com/ether.