The Chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Heath Tarbert, acknowledges that Ethereum futures are likely in the future.

“We are doing a lot in the digital asset space,” Tarbert said. “We are seeing exchanges started to list; certainly, we have seen Bitcoin futures, both cash-settled as well as physically-delivered. My guess is we are going to see Ether futures as well. And as things start to migrate into the commodity space, we will see even more.”

The President of Bakkt, Adam White, has also said that the CFTC would theoretically approve Ethereum futures.

All of this being said, this is just speculation for now, and there is nothing specific regarding when Ethereum futures would launch, nor where they would launch.

Assuming that Ethereum futures do launch eventually, the crypto space may be quick to label it as good news. For example, Ethereum Futures theoretically would increase institutional interest in the Ethereum (ETH) market and would make the Ethereum (ETH) market more mature, as well as generally making Ethereum (ETH) more reputable.

However, the launch of Ethereum futures could actually be very bad news for the Ethereum (ETH) market. When Bitcoin futures launched in December 2017 it actually precipitated a massive price collapse and the subsequent 2018 bear market via introducing a massive amount of short selling pressure. Presumably, Ethereum futures would likewise introduce substantial short-selling pressure into the Ethereum (ETH) market.

So Ethereum futures may be coming eventually, but it may not be a good thing for the crypto space.