Brad Garlinghouse, the billionaire CEO of the blockchain and payments firm Ripple, recently shared his excitement about the launch of regulated XRP futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).

Garlinghouse wrote on X, "The launch of regulated XRP Futures on CME Group marks a key institutional milestone for XRP…and very excited to report that Hidden Road cleared the first block trade on CME at the opening!"

Founded in 1898, CME is a leading American derivatives marketplace where commodities, equity indices, foreign exchange, interest rates, etc. are traded.

On May 19, the marketplace launched XRP futures (50,000 XRP) and micro XRP futures (2,500 XRP).

These products are financial derivative contracts that let traders speculate on the future price of XRP without any need for them to actually own the cryptocurrency.

XRP is the third-largest cryptocurrency, and its CME debut marks a milestone in the broader trend of traditional finance increasingly embracing the crypto market.

"Interest in XRP and its underlying ledger (XRPL) has steadily increased as institutional and retail adoption for the network grows, and we are pleased to launch these new futures contracts to provide a capital-efficient toolset to support clients' investment and hedging strategies," CME Group's global head of cryptocurrency products Giovanni Vicioso said.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is yet to take a decision on nine XRP-tied spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications, including one by the Wall Street giant Franklin Templeton.

Ripple Labs has been engaged in a well-known legal case with the SEC regarding alleged securities violations.

XRP was trading at $2.37 at the time of writing, as per Kraken.

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