BGC Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:BGCP) announces that BGC Financial L.P. has executed the first ever block trade of Micro Bitcoin options offered by CME Group via its Sunrise brand.

This transaction brought together two major market participants in the cryptocurrency space. Since 1Q 2022, BGC has been active in multiple segments of the digital marketplace, successfully arranging transactions in options on multiple listed ETFs, options on CME Group listed Bitcoin futures, and options on CME Group listed Micro Bitcoin futures.

BGC’s Lucera platform continues to expand its digital offering by building connections to digital custodians and providing connectivity to a variety of digital execution facilities. In addition, BGC’s Fenics and Aurel brands anticipate offering fully electronic access to digital spot and options products by the end of this year.

Finally, in anticipation of an active OTC wholesale cryptocurrency marketplace, BGC is establishing voice and hybrid OTC brokerage desks in major financial centers to facilitate the expected growth in this sector.

John Abularrage, who recently joined BGC as Co-Global Head of Brokerage, CEO of the Americas, commented on today’s announcement,

“This trade marries our best-in-class technology, infrastructure, regulatory discipline, and global reach. It is consistent with our 4Q 2021 earnings announcement of BGC’s intention to enter the digital asset universe. This trade not only signifies an important step in the evolution of a marketplace searching for a regulated crypto space – it signifies BGC in America is back.”

Tim McCourt, CME Group Global Head of Equity and FX Products, said,

“After just one week, we are encouraged by the activity we are seeing with these Micro-sized options, and are pleased with the liquidity and early support we’re seeing from Sunrise and others early on. Building on the strength and liquidity of the underlying contracts, our Micro-sized options enable traders of all sizes to efficiently hedge market-moving events with greater precision and flexibility or fine-tune their cryptocurrency market exposure.”