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The crypto sector has recently hit a milestone, signaling that the world of digital assets is steadily marching toward global adoption.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ordered the accelerated approval of the listing and trading of options for BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) on Nasdaq.

The notice shared by SEC stated, “The Exchange proposed to amend its rules to permit the listing and trading of options on IBIT. The Exchange stated that options on IBIT would provide investors with a hedging and risk management tool to manage exposure to the price of bitcoin and bitcoin-related products and positions.”

The IBIT will provide investors with a hedging and risk management tool to “manage exposure to the price of Bitcoin and BTC-related products and positions.” Additionally, the SEC claims the surveillance procedure that applies to ETF products will also apply to options on IBIT. 

The surveillance procedure will ensure that it is designed to deter and detect possible manipulative behavior. 

As part of the accelerated approval process, SEC also set a position and exercise limits for options on IBIT. The order states, “The Exchange proposes to set the position and exercise limits for options on IBIT at 25,000 contracts regardless of the trading volume and shares outstanding for IBIT.” 

“This position limit is the lowest position limit available in the options industry, is extremely conservative and more than appropriate given the IBIT’s market capitalization, average daily volume, and high number of outstanding shares.”

Considering it a major achievement, Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst, predicted that other ETF products will be approved similarly to BlackRock’s IBIT. Balchunas mentioned that the approval will attract more liquidity and bring large investors into the Bitcoin ETF market.