For years, CME’s crypto business was a one-asset story: Bitcoin, backed by its liquid futures market, and since 2022, a growing options market. The introduction of Ethereum futures diversified its crypto offering, but it still remained tied to the market’s largest asset.

That narrative changed when it launched XRP and Solana futures. In just months, the open interest for SOL and XRP futures passed $1 billion. Solana hit the milestone in just five months, faster than it took both Bitcoin and Ethereum to reach the same mark when they launched.

That number matters. $1 billion in OI is the informal threshold where institutions start taking an asset seriously in derivatives. Below that, futures can be too thin to support basis trades, structured notes, or the hedges asset managers require. Above it, the contract starts to function like real financial plumbing. The speed at which Solana and XRP have crossed this line shows real institutional demand, not just speculative activity.

The flows also show how the “regulated stack” is broadening. Until recently, traders looking to short, lever up, or run basis strategies in anything beyond BTC and ETH were pushed offshore to Binance or OKX. CME’s push into Solana and XRP pulls some of that business into its clearinghouse, where collateral rules and accounting treatment are friendlier to funds.

The more liquidity migrates to CME, the easier it becomes for traditional desks to justify crypto allocations.

Options are the next leg.

With OI swelling, the infrastructure is now in place for CME to list Solana and XRP options just as it did with Bitcoin and

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Author: Andjela Radmilac