The approval of the spot Bitcoin ETF, upcoming Bitcoin halving, as well as Ethereum’s upgrades and anticipation for a spot Ether ETF led to sustained price rallies in Q1 for the two leading cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Bitcoin’s price broke its years-old record reaching $73,700 while ether briefly crossed $4,000. As prices increased, so did volatility. Institutional and individual investors turned to our regulated and liquid markets to express their views and hedge their risk leading to record open interest and average daily volume across the CME Group Cryptocurrency suite of products in the quarter. ... (full story)