🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Two paths for a bitcoin volatility gauge are taking shape

• CME Group plans to launch bitcoin volatility futures, while rival exchange Cboe plans to launch its Cboe IBIT Volatility Index (BITVX) on March 23, 2026 1.
• The products take separate routes to track volatility.
• CME’s benchmark, the CME CF Bitcoin Volatility Index (BVX), pulls data from CME’s regulated Bitcoin options order books 2.
• Cboe’s BITVX applies its VIX methodology to options tied to the iShares Bitcoin Trust exchange-traded fund (ETF) (IBIT), one of the most actively traded U.S. options linked to digital assets 1.

Bitcoin gets a broader set of market tools

• These futures give professional traders a regulated way to hedge or bet on Bitcoin’s volatility without relying on its price direction 3.
• They could also support a new group of products aimed at everyday investors.
• Asset managers including CoinShares, a digital asset investment firm, have filed for ETFs that would offer direct, leveraged, and inverse exposure to the CME CF Bitcoin Volatility Index through futures contracts 4.
• This follows a pattern seen in older asset classes, where volatility futures support risk management as well as more complex trading products 4.