CME freezes Nasdaq’s major Bitcoin launch, warning a legal loophole could upend the entire commodities market

Nasdaq PHLX’s proposed Bitcoin index options remain frozen as CME Group challenges the SEC’s authority to approve them.The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) granted CME’s petition on July 29 to review the agency’s May approval of QBTC.The approval had been automatically stayed since CME filed notice of its challenge on June 11, and the agency has set no deadline for deciding the case. Public statements are due Aug. 24.The dispute combines a jurisdictional test with a commercial fight over institutional Bitcoin options. CME operates the largest US federally regulated crypto derivatives franchise under Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) oversight, while Nasdaq is seeking to offer comparable direct Bitcoin-options exposure through the securities market.Nasdaq targets a market built under CFTC rulesNasdaq’s proposal would bring direct Bitcoin index options into the brokerage and clearing infrastructure investors already use for stocks and ETF options.QBTC would be a cash-settled contract exercisable at expiration, with intraday pricing linked to the CME CF Bitcoin Real Time Index and final settlement based on the New York variant of the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate. It...