Chicago Mercantile Exchange to launch Cardano, Chainlink and Stellar futures

The exchange will list both standard and micro contracts. Cardano futures will be sized at 100,000 ADA with a Micro ADA contract at 10,000 ADA. Chainlink futures will be sized at 5,000 LINK with a Micro LINK contract at 250 LINK. Stellar futures will be sized at 250,000 lumens with a Micro Lumens contract at 12,500 lumens.

Giovanni Vicioso, CME Group global head of cryptocurrency products, stated the contracts are intended to give market participants additional tools to manage price risk and gain exposure through regulated venues. CME Group also cited client demand following what it described as record growth in crypto over the past year.

CME Group noted the products will join its existing crypto derivatives suite, which includes bitcoin, ether, XRP and Solana futures and options on futures. The company reported record 2025 average daily volume for crypto futures and options of 278,300 contracts, representing about $12 billion in notional value, and record average open interest of 313,900 contracts, or about $26.4 billion notional. It also reported record 2025 futures average daily volume of 272,200 contracts, or about $11.7 billion notional, and record average futures open interest of 253,600 contracts, or about $21.4 billion notional. For options, CME Group reported average daily volume of 4,100 contracts, or about $231 million notional, and average open interest of 60,400 contracts, or about $5 billion notional.

Wedbush Securities executive vice president Bob Fitzsimmons and NinjaTrader chief executive Martin Franchi were among industry participants who welcomed the expansion, while Volatility Shares chief executive Justin Young added that additional regulated products support trading and risk management.

Earlier, GNcrypto noted that Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson criticized U.S. President Donald Trump’s crypto policy in comments published on 13 January 2026, arguing it became “extractive” and politicized and that the launch of Trump Coin and a related token tied to Melania Trump undermined trust, fueled a memecoin wave, and contributed to investor losses and a broader selloff. Hoskinson also linked the backlash to stalled U.S. legislation, naming the GENIUS Act and the Clarity Act, and described what he viewed as a lack of a structured channel for industry engagement. He added that he was not informed about ADA being included in a presidential crypto reserve alongside XRP and Solana and warned that future political turnover could bring legal and regulatory scrutiny, while arguing the window for bipartisan reform may not reopen until 2029.