Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) has entered into an agreement with New York-based digital asset exchange Gemini that will provide it and its affiliates with an exclusive global license to use Gemini’s bitcoin market data for bitcoin derivatives and indices.

Under the terms of the agreement, CBOE will have a multi-year exclusive global license permitting it to use Gemini’s market data, including daily bitcoin auction values, in the creation of bitcoin derivatives products for listing and trading, the official release said.

Pending regulatory review by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), CBOE said that the collaboration plans to launch cash-settled bitcoin futures on CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE) by the end of this year or early 2018. In addition, CBOE will retain exclusive rights to use Gemini market data for the creation of new indexes, along with the rights to distribute Gemini market data over its market data feeds.

Ed Tilly, CBOE Holdings Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said:

“CBOE is not only a home to options, derivatives and the VIX but also ETF innovations and foreign exchange. This makes us the natural choice for the development and trading of bitcoin futures. We very much look forward to responding to the growing interest in cryptocurrencies through the creation of bitcoin futures traded on a regulated derivatives exchange, with the many expected benefits that this brings, including transparency, price discovery, deep liquidity and centralized clearing.”

Tilly further said that Gemini’s focus and determination to grow the bitcoin market and secure appropriate regulatory oversight as a New York trust company makes it ideal for this venture.

“Gemini’s key concerns in the cryptocurrency ecosystem have always been security, compliance, and regulatory oversight. By working with the team at CBOE, we are helping to make bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies increasingly accessible to both retail and institutional investors,” Added Tyler Winklevoss, Chief Executive Officer of Gemini.

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