Benzinga | Oct 8, 2021 11:30AM EDT

Citadel-Backed Stock Exchange Lists Crypto Futures

Chicago-based stock exchange The Small Exchange -- which is backed by Citadel Securities, Jump Capital, Interactive Brokers Group Inc. and Peak6 Investments -- has launched cryptocurrency futures.

See Also: BEST CRYPTOCURRENCY EXCHANGES

What Happened: The Small Exchange launched futures on the Small Cryptocurrency Index, which has 17 components that include Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (OTC:GBTC), Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN), Paypal Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) and Square Inc. (NYSE:SQ), according to a Thursday Bloomberg report.

Frank Kaberna, Small Exchange's chief content strategist, said there was reluctance among stock and derivatives traders to adopt cryptocurrencies because of the lack of accessible productsand education.

For this reason, he said that the company proposes crypto futures that "come in at one of the smallest notional sizes of any futures in the entire marketplace, and it trades and settles to cash just like most standard equity index futures."

The Small Exchange launched its first products in mid-2020 and purportedly "made its mark with smaller-sized contracts on stocks, Treasuries and precious metals." Its contracts are smaller-sized and aim to cater to retail investors, which apparently paid off considering that the exchange's volume grew more than 60% year-over-year since its launch last June, and it tallied its best daily volume on Sept. 14.