Ripple, a distributed ledger technology provider, has announced that Crypto Facilities, a London-based digital assets trading platform, will be the first derivatives exchange to list regulated XRP futures contracts.

Crypto Facilities provides FCA-regulated risk management and trading solutions for digital assets. According to the official announcement, it is partnering with CME Group in order to further establish digital assets as a new asset class. Ripple formalized its partnership with Crypto Facilities earlier this year.

“Ripple’s partnership with Crypto Facilities plays a key role in institutionalizing XRP as the most efficient digital asset for interbank settlement. Additionally, the joint efforts of Crypto Facilities and CME Group demonstrate the long-term support of XRP and Ripple from its ever-increasing network of customers and partners”, Ripple said.

Currently, trading on Crypto Facilities is focused in countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia with U.S. availability on the roadmap. Ripple’s partnership with the trading platform offers an additional venue to trade XRP, thereby opening access to a wider customer base. Ripple said that with the expansion of the number and size of regulated XRP trading venues, price discovery and market efficiency of the asset will also improve.

“Crypto Facilities is excited to be working with Ripple to list regulated futures on Ripple XRP. Banks, liquidity providers and traders are holding XRP in significant size and will be able to use the new marketplace to manage and trade XRP price risk,” stated Dr. Timo Schlaefer, CEO of Crypto Facilities.

Ripple’s new product offering of cash-settled futures contracts on Crypto Facilities includes:

• A ripple-dollar contract that provides up to 8x leverage
   
• A ripple-bitcoin contract that provides up to 5x leverage

Futures come with one week, two weeks, one quarter, two quarters and three quarters maturities. The product offering will adhere to Crypto Facilities’ professional standards in terms of regulatory compliance, secure asset custody and counterparty credit risk management.

Crypto Facilities recently raised $1.5 million in a seed funding round led by Pamir Gelenbe's AngelList syndicate. Ripple, on the other hand, in September announced the completion of a $55 million Series B financing alongside the addition of several financial institutions to its growing network. More recently, it announced that leading global banks are teaming up to establish the first interbank group for global payments based on distributed financial technology.