Chicago-based crypto exchange Bitnomial has introduced futures contracts tied to Tezos’ XTZ token — the first time XTZ futures have been offered on a U.S. exchange regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The contracts are active and allow both institutional and retail traders to gain price exposure to XTZ or hedge positions, using either cryptocurrency or U.S. dollar margin.
Futures let market participants agree today to buy or sell an asset at a predetermined price on a future date, enabling exposure without holding the underlying token. CFTC-regulated futures markets are often seen as an important step for broader institutional participation in the U.S., including the potential for spot exchange-traded funds, because they offer standardized price discovery and regulatory oversight.
“CFTC-regulated futures market with six months of trading history checks a key box under the SEC’s generic listing standards for spot ETFs,” Bitnomial president Michael Dunn said. Dunn also told Cointelegraph the firm is actively evaluating additional tokens for potential U.S. institutional and retail derivatives products but declined to identify specific candidates.
Bitnomial has previously launched U.S.-regulated futures tied to Cardano (ADA), XRP and Aptos (APT), making it one of the few venues in the country offering regulated altcoin derivatives beyond Bitcoin and Ether. The exchange’s push into altcoin futures has run into regulatory challenges: in August 2024 Bitnomial attempted to self-certify XRP futures with the CFTC, prompting objections from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which argued the contracts should trigger registration as a securities exchange. Bitnomial sued the SEC in October 2025 and later dropped the suit; it subsequently launched XRP futures in March, citing shifts in the agency’s approach to crypto policy.
A brief history of Tezos
Tezos’ mainnet went live in June 2018 after a 2017 initial coin offering that raised roughly $232 million in Bitcoin and Ether. While not the first proof-of-stake chain, Tezos was an early layer-1 project to combine proof-of-stake consensus with formal on-chain governance, allowing token holders to vote on protocol upgrades and helping the network evolve without contentious hard forks.
During the 2021–2022 NFT boom, Tezos attracted attention as a lower-cost, energy-efficient alternative to Ethereum for minting and trading NFTs. As Ethereum gas fees climbed, artists and game publishers — including Ubisoft — moved projects to Tezos for lower transaction costs and its proof-of-stake design. The project also secured sports-related partnerships with teams such as Red Bull Racing and McLaren Racing, and was reported to be negotiating a multi-year sponsorship with Manchester United reportedly worth more than $27 million per year.
Tezos’ native token XTZ hit an all-time high of $9.12 in October 2021 but subsequently declined by roughly 95%, trading around $0.46 at the time of reporting. On Jan. 25, Tezos implemented the Tallinn protocol upgrade, which reduced base-layer block times to six seconds as part of its 20th on-chain upgrade.
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