CME launches reference rates for Axie Infinity, Chiliz and Decentraland

The US’s largest and most diversified derivatives market, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) announced the launch of reference rates for Axie Infinity (AXS), Chiliz (CHZ) and Decentraland (MANA) on Jan.30.

The CME announced the launch of reference rates and real-time indexes for three major metaverse and sports ecosystems’ tokens in a Jan.5 announcement. Those services will allow investors to access reliable pricing data for AXS, CHZ and MANA in a way familiar to traditional finance participants.

CME Group’s head of cryptocurrency products, Giovanni Vicioso pointed out that neither the reference rates nor the indexes will be tradeable products and are meant to help “price sector-specific portfolios, develop structured products […] and manage price risk around various Metaverse-based projects.”

These products will be priced in dollars, published daily at 4:00 PM GMT and use data from at least two exchanges each, including Bitstamp, Coinbase, Kraken, itBit and LMAX Digital.

The report follows CME’s late December announcement that the company launched three new decentralized finance (DeFi) and reference and real-time indexes for Curve (CRV), Synthetix (SNX), and Aave (AAVE).

Vicioso explained at the time that the move will capture more than 40% of the total value locked in DeFi protocols on ethereum (ETH).

Back in August, the CME also launched bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum futures, allowing investors to trade on the licensed exchange Euro-denominated BTC and ETH futures contracts.