SEC Clears Nasdaq Bitcoin Index Options as Wall Street Deepens Crypto Push

May 23 — Bloomberg reported that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved Nasdaq to list index options tied to Bitcoin's price. The contracts are designed to give U.S. equity-market participants another way to gain and manage Bitcoin-linked exposure beyond options on spot Bitcoin ETFs, enabling investors to trade and hedge BTC price swings through an index options structure without holding spot Bitcoin or ETFs directly. Market participants see the decision as another sign that traditional finance and the crypto asset ecosystem are becoming more closely integrated. Options on spot Bitcoin ETFs, including BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), have already attracted significant trading activity.