Bitnomial is the first US regulated Tezos to list futures.
Chicago-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitnomial has launched futures tied to the Tezos XTZ token, marking the first time the asset has had a futures market on an exchange regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
As of Wednesday's announcement, the futures contracts are live and allow institutional and retail traders to gain exposure to XTZ (XTZ) price movements using the cryptocurrency or US dollar as margin.
Futures contracts allow traders to take risk or gain price exposure by agreeing to buy or sell an asset at a set price at a future date without actually holding it.
Because they provide standardized price discovery and oversight at the CFTC, regulated futures markets are considered a prerequisite for broader institutional participation in the US, potentially including exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
“A CFTC-regulated futures market with a six-month trading history checks a key box under the SEC's general listing requirements for spot ETFs,” said Michael Dunn, president of Bitnomial.
Dunn told Cointelegraph that the company is “actively looking at new signals” for the US institutional and retail derivatives markets, but declined to comment on specific assets.
Previously, Bitnomial listed U.S.-regulated futures related to assets including Cardano (ADA), XRP (XRP), and Aptos (APT), among the few places in the U.S. that offer regulated crypto derivatives outside of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).
Bitnomial's push to list futures tied to altcoins has not been without regulatory hurdles. In the year In August 2024, the exchange wanted to self-certify XRP futures with the CFTC, but the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) objected, arguing that the contracts needed to be registered as a securities exchange.
After dropping the lawsuit after suing the SEC in October 2025, Bitnomial launched XRP futures in March, citing the agency's changing approach to crypto policy.
Related: CFTC issues no-action letter to Bitnomial, clearing path for event contracts
A brief history of Tezos
The Tezos Mainnet was launched in June 2018 following a 2017 Initial Coin Offering that raised approximately $232 million in Bitcoin and Ether. While not the first proof-of-concept, Tezos was one of the first Layer-1 networks to combine proof-of-stake with standard onchain governance, allowing token holders to approve protocol updates that allow the network to evolve without a hard fork.
In the year During the irreversible token boom of 2021–2022, blockchain has emerged as a low-cost and energy-efficient alternative to Ethereum for creating and trading NFTs. As Ethereum's gas fees rose, artists and game publishers like Ubisoft moved to Tezos, citing lower transaction costs and the network's event-proof design.
In recent years, Tezos has reportedly secured high-profile sports partnerships with Red Bull Racing and McLaren Racing, and later a multi-year training kit sponsorship with Manchester United worth more than $27 million a year.
According to CoinGecko data, Tezos' native token XTZ hit an all-time high of $9.12 in October 2021, but has since declined by 95% and is now trading around $0.46.
On January 25, Tezos implemented an update to the Talin protocol, cutting base-layer times to six seconds as part of the network's 20th onchain update.
Magazine: Bitcoin Is ‘Funny Internet Money' In Times Of Crisis: Tezos Co-Founder
