The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued an advisory through its Division of Clearing and Risk stating it would no longer have a role in clearing Bitcoin ETF options.

The agency is transferring this responsibility to the Options Clearing Corporation, according to a prepared statement.

“[..] In light of relevant precedents in the courts, it is substantially likely these spot commodity ETF shares would be held to be securities. Therefore, DCR’s position is the listing of these shares on SEC-registered national securities exchanges does not implicate the CFTC’s jurisdiction.”

CFTC staff advisory.

According to the commission, the OCC, which serves as the “sole issuer of all equity options” in the U.S., now holds the final authority to decide whether these options will be listed.

Experts believe the OCC’s approval could be imminent, with ETF analyst Eric Balchunas predicting it will come “very soon.” 

Meanwhile, market commentator Andrew said the CFTC’s move came much quicker than expected, as approval was initially anticipated by late Q1 2025, but this decision could speed things up.

Bitwise Invest’s Jeff Park suggested that while he was optimistic about the chances of a year-end approval, he wouldn’t “short the odd.”

The advisory follows the SEC’s approval last month, which cleared applications from the New York Stock Exchange and the Chicago Board Options Exchange to list and trade Bitcoin ETF options.

Options contracts give investors the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an underlying asset at a specified price before a set date. The SEC believes options trading could bring “better price efficiency” and “less volatility” to Bitcoin ETFs, helping to stabilize the market while making it more transparent and efficient overall.

Bitcoin advocates view the approval of Bitcoin ETF options as a game-changer, bringing more liquidity to the market. See below.

“Assets in the US spot bitcoin ETFs are now up to $84b, which is 2/3 of the way to what gold ETFs have, all the sudden there’s a decent shot they surpass gold before their first birthday (we predicted it would take 3-4yrs),” Eric Balchunas, a senior analyst at Bloomberg, said in a post on X.

BTC trades above $76,000 in Asian morning hours Friday, up nearly 10% over the past week. In line with analyst expectations, the Federal Reserve cut rates by 25 basis points on Thursday in a move that typically supports risk assets like bitcoin by increasing liquidity and weakening the dollar.