SEC reopens Nasdaq's QBTC approval after CME petition, keeping launch on hold
The regulator granted CME's request to review Nasdaq PHLX's Bitcoin index options approval, putting a proposed cash-settled product back inside a live SEC proceeding.
The SEC has granted CME Group's request to review Nasdaq PHLX's approval for Bitcoin index options, putting the proposed QBTC product back into an active proceeding. The SEC order dated July 29 was published in the Federal Register on Aug. 3, and the agency's case page was updated on Aug. 5. Written statements are due Aug. 24.
The order also keeps the approval on hold. The Commission said its May 22 approval order remains stayed pending a further order. That leaves Nasdaq with an approved proposal on paper, but no trading date that options participants can rely on.
CME's objection is about jurisdiction
Nasdaq PHLX proposed options tied to the Nasdaq Bitcoin Index. The product would be cash-settled and European-style, meaning the contract would settle in cash at expiration rather than deliver bitcoin. The SEC approved the exchange's proposal under its securities-market framework on May 22.
CME's petition for review makes a different legal argument. CME says the product is a commodity option or swap on bitcoin, and that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has exclusive jurisdiction over that class of contract. It asks the SEC to vacate the approval rather than let the product proceed under the current arrangement.
The structure is the practical question
The SEC's approval contemplated CFTC exemptive relief that would allow PHLX and the Options Clearing Corporation to operate the product within the proposed structure. CME argues that the agencies cannot use an exemption to move a commodity option into the SEC's exclusive domain. The dispute therefore reaches beyond one listing. It tests how a regulated venue can build a bitcoin derivative when the underlying asset sits between two federal regimes.
Market participants should watch the Aug. 24 filings, any response from Nasdaq or the SEC, and the next Commission order. Until the stay is lifted and the jurisdiction question is resolved, QBTC remains a proposed market structure rather than a live trading venue.
