ICE Activates CoinDesk Crypto Futures, Eyes DeFi Rate Benchmarks
HONG KONG — Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which operates the New York Stock Exchange, has launched a suite of cryptocurrency futures linked to CoinDesk indices, signaling a deeper push into regulated digital asset derivatives. The contracts began trading Monday after their Jan. 9 announcement.
The new products are cash-settled and denominated in U.S. dollars, referencing seven CoinDesk benchmarks. Offerings include broad-market futures tied to the CoinDesk 20 and CoinDesk 5 indices, as well as single-asset contracts tracking bitcoin, ether, solana, XRP and BNB.
Because the futures settle in cash rather than through token delivery, they are designed for institutional investors seeking crypto exposure without managing wallets, custody arrangements or spot-market infrastructure.
Next on ICE’s agenda is the proposed listing of One Month CoinDesk Overnight Rates (CDOR) USDC futures, pending regulatory clearance. The planned contracts would track the annualized effective interest rate paid by borrowers in decentralized finance (DeFi) markets.
These rate futures aim to translate onchain lending activity into a format familiar to traditional markets, similar to how benchmarks like the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) underpin pricing for loans and other dollar-based financial products. By introducing such instruments, ICE would expand crypto derivatives beyond directional price trades into funding, credit and liquidity markets.
ICE also noted that tens of billions of dollars are already benchmarked to CoinDesk’s index suite. The CoinDesk 20, built using a capped market-cap-weighted methodology, is intended to capture a broad representation of the digital asset market.
With index-linked futures now live and DeFi-based rate products under review, ICE is positioning itself to integrate blockchain-native metrics into established financial infrastructure.
