Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the operator of the New York Stock Exchange, on Monday launched seven cryptocurrency futures contracts on ICE Futures U.S., all U.S. dollar-denominated and cash-settled against benchmarks from CoinDesk Indices.
The new suite includes futures on the CoinDesk 20 and CoinDesk 5 indices, plus single-asset contracts for Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, XRP, and BNB. The cash-settled structure means institutional investors can gain exposure without managing digital wallets or private keys.
Broad market coverage
The CoinDesk 20 Index uses a capped market-capitalisation methodology to track the top 20 digital assets, excluding stablecoins. It covers more than 90% of total digital asset market capitalisation and has over $16 billion in linked product volume. Bitcoin’s weight is capped at 30%, while all other constituents are capped at 20% to maintain diversification. The index updates every five seconds and rebalances quarterly.
The CoinDesk 5 Index narrows the focus to the five largest constituents of the CoinDesk 20 by market capitalisation.
Over $40 billion in assets under management are currently tied to CoinDesk Indices.
“The digital asset space is evolving rapidly, and we are excited to collaborate with CoinDesk to launch these new futures contracts,” said Jennifer Ilkiw, President of ICE Futures U.S. “The launch expands ICE’s existing relationship with CoinDesk and will bring further transparency to the digital asset market.”
ICE also disclosed plans to launch One Month CoinDesk Overnight Rates (CDOR) USDC futures, subject to regulatory review. CDOR benchmarks reflect annualised effective interest rates paid by borrowers in decentralised finance markets, derived from activity on Aave v3 lending pools. The rates are structurally similar to traditional overnight benchmarks such as SOFR in the U.S. or €STR in Europe.
If approved, the DeFi interest rate product would be the first DeFi interest rate futures contract listed on a regulated exchange.
“CoinDesk Indices were built to serve as trusted benchmarks for the digital asset sector, and this launch with ICE advances that mission into regulated futures markets,” said David LaValle, President of CoinDesk Data and Indices.
Further details on contract specifications are available at ice.com/digital-assets.
