CME Crypto Trading Volumes Surge to Record $285 Billion

Cryptocurrency trading volumes on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) surged to a new all-time high of $285 billion in January, driven by increased interest in bitcoin futures and options. This marks an 8% increase from the previous month, according to a report by CCData.

Bitcoin futures saw a 12% rise to $220 billion, while options surged 125% to $6 billion. However, ether futures trading volumes fell by nearly 13% to around $41 billion. Despite the record trading activity on the CME, derivatives volumes across centralized exchanges dropped by nearly 19% in January, the report shows.

Spot and derivatives trading volumes on Binance dropped by 20.3% and 19.2% to $754 billion and $2.44 trillion respectively, marking their first decline in four months. Nevertheless, Binance's spot market share rose to 26.2% as other exchanges experienced stronger declines. Similarly, Bybit saw its market share rise to 13.3%, despite seeing an 11% decline in spot trading volume to $220 billion and an 18.5% drop in derivatives volume to $977 billion, remaining the second-largest exchange by volume.

In other news, the Czech Republic president Peter Pavel signed into law a bill exempting long-held bitcoin holdings from capital gains taxes. The law, which received unanimous approval from the Czech Parliament in early December, also stipulates that cryptocurrencies acquired before 2025 will be exempt from capital gains tax if held for more than three years before being sold, if the sale meets specific conditions. Taxpayers will also not need to declare transactions valued at less than 100,000 Czech koruna, approximately $4,100, contrasting with previous regulations that made every transaction a taxable event.

The Trump-supported decentralized finance project World Liberty Financial plans on establishing a "strategic reserve" using tokens it has bought, according to the project's co-founder Chase Herro. During Ondo Finance's inaugural summit in New York, Herro appeared on a panel alongside co-founders Zak Folkman and Zach Witkoff, being introduced at the event by Donald Trump Jr., who sat on the panel. While Herro did not elaborate on the