CF Benchmarks
CF benchmarks logo

May 08, 2021

CF Benchmarks Recap - Issue 30

  • Skybridge names CF Benchmarks in amended ETF filing

  • Bulge bracket banks in Bitcoin huddle around NYDIG

  • Videos: Bitcoin and Ether benchmarks explained in under 5 minutes

skybridge-capital-named-3

NYDIG flags
With dozens of deals reported in recent weeks, NYDIG has good reason to join the dots on behalf of its burgeoning client base. Lest an increasingly blasé industry breezes past the inflection point, the Stone Ridge subsidiary noted that—judging from growth in its own business— for the first time, U.S. customers may soon have broad Bitcoin access through existing bank accounts.

JPMorgan gets company on the road
JPMorgan’s Bitcoin journey remains among the most intriguing. Having dropped hints since March on possible avenues its crypto offer might take, it has yet to clarify. Still, JPM’s thinking aloud has this week prompted Citigroup to air its own perspective. Its approach will be slower than GS’s, Morgan Stanley’s and certainly BNY Mellon, which announced the launch of a Multi-Asset Digital Platform in February.

The year belongs to ETH
Amid a string of Bitcoin breakthroughs, ironically, the last few months belong to Ether in price performance and volume terms. CryptoCompare’s monthly Exchange Review pointed to a 300% increase in CME ETH volumes in April vs. CME BTC’s 10.3% drop. Elsewhere, Chainalysis’s chief economist noted in this week’s (subscription only) Market Intel report that one ETH was worth more than 0.05 of a Bitcoin for the first time since April 2018.

The Returns: CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate
ETH’s BTC outperformance in the year to May 8th, 2021 is remarkable given the slow 2020 start. As late as September 7, ETHUSD_RR was a mere $336.74, up 58.82%. Truly exponential growth began late in October. From $389.40 on November 1st, the rate broke $1,000 by January 4th, doing 3.5x more by Friday.Screenshot-2021-05-08-at-09.50.04

Featured benchmarks: CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate, CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate

Videos: BRR and ETHUSD_RR

Benchmark integrity defined in 4 minutes, 35 seconds

BRR-vid-thumb-2021-05-08-at-11.09.20

ETHUSD_RR-vid-thumb

In fact, for all its manipulation resistance by design, robustness, and empirically proven market integrity, CF Benchmark’s Reference Rate Methodology is possessed of a remarkably elegant essential simplicity. However, encompassing concepts like “volume-weighted median trade price” and equally weighted “(as opposed to volume- weighted)” partitions, verbal descriptions of how and why the methodology works can quickly become quite challenging for some. Well, what if you could understand the entirety of the methodology—skimping no details or nuances—in less than 5 minutes (4 minutes and 35 seconds, to be precise)? Now, due to the efforts of our super- talented in-house video team, you can. New videos on our flagship Reference Rates, CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate and CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate take you through each step in the methodological process in simple, lucid terms, whist also plugging in some history and the major implications of what the existence of these prices means for crypto. Watch them now and be smarter in less than 5 minutes.

Watch ‘CME CF Ether Dollar Reference Rate - Integrity Defined’ and ‘CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate - Integrity Defined’ on YouTube.


The information contained within is for educational and informational purposes ONLY. It is not intended nor should it be considered an invitation or inducement to buy or sell any of the underlying instruments cited including but not limited to cryptoassets, financial instruments or any instruments that reference any index provided by CF Benchmarks Ltd. This communication is not intended to persuade or incite you to buy or sell security or securities noted within. Any commentary provided is the opinion of the author and should not be considered a personalised recommendation. Please contact your financial adviser or professional before making an investment decision.


Note: Some of the underlying instruments cited within this material may be restricted to certain customer categories in certain jurisdictions.


Footer

Subscribe to our newsletter

The latest news, articles, and resources, sent to your inbox weekly.

By submitting this form, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

© 2025 CF Benchmarks Ltd. All rights reserved.

CF Benchmarks Ltd (“CF Benchmarks”), a company registered in England and Wales with company number 11654816 and authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Information about us can be found on the Financial Services Register (register number 847100).

Registered Office: 6th Floor One London Wall, London, United Kingdom, EC2Y 5EB.

You agree not to, and have no rights to, use the CF Benchmarks Data to create, calculate, issue, settle, maintain, support or develop any financial instruments (including but, without limitation exchange traded products, certificates, warrants, contracts for difference, swaps, binary options, structured products), indices, products, services (including but without limitation, portfolio management services, pre- and post-trade risk management services, or valuation services) or any other derivative works without the express written consent of CF Benchmarrks.

You agree not to analyze, reverse-engineer or disassemble any CF Benchmarks data and not to insert any code or product to manipulate the Website content in any way that affects any user’s experience. Unless CF Benchmarks gives you prior written permission, use of any Web browsers (other than generally available third-party browsers), engines, scripts, software, spiders, robots, avatars, agents, tools or other devices or mechanisms (such as crawlers, browser plug-ins and add-ons, or other technology) to navigate, access, copy in bulk, retrieve, harvest, index, search or analyse any portion of the Website is strictly prohibited.

No part of this information may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of CF Benchmarks Ltd. Use and distribution of the CF Benchmarks data requires a license from CF Benchmarks or its authorized licensing agents.

All information is provided for information purposes only. All information and data contained on this website is obtained by CF Benchmarks, from sources believed by it to be accurate and reliable. Such information and data is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind.

CF Benchmarks, nor its directors, officers, employees, partners or licensors make any claim, prediction, warranty or representation whatsoever, expressly or implied, either as to the accuracy, timeliness, completeness or merchantability of any information or of results to be obtained from the use of the CF Benchmarks indices or the fitness or suitability of the same indices for any particular purpose to which they might be put. Any representation of historical data accessible through CF Benchmarks indices is provided for information purposes only and is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

No responsibility or liability can be accepted by CF Benchmarks nor their respective directors, officers, employees, partners or licensors for any loss or damage in whole or in part caused by, resulting from, or relating to any error (negligent or otherwise) or other circumstance involved in procuring, collecting, compiling, interpreting, analysing, editing, transcribing, transmitting, communicating or delivering any such information or data or from use of this website or links to this website.

CF Benchmarks and its respective directors, officers, employees, partners or licensors do not provide investment advice and nothing accessible through CF Benchmarks, should be taken as constituting financial or investment advice or a financial promotion. Charts and graphs are provided for illustrative purposes only. Index returns shown may not represent the results of the actual trading of any assets.

CF Benchmarks is a member of the Crypto Facilities group of companies which is in turn a member of the Payward, Inc. group of companies.
  • Payward, Inc. is the owner and operator of the Kraken Exchange, a venue that facilitates the trading of cryptocurrencies. The Kraken Exchange is a source of input data for certain CF Benchmarks indices.
  • Payward, Inc. is the owner and operator of the Staked, a venue that operates the block production nodes for decentralized PoS protocols on behalf of institutional investors. Staked.us is a source of input data for certain CF Benchmarks indices.

Please refer to the individual product family documentation for more information about applicable input data sources.

By clicking Accept, you consent to CF Benchmarks's use of cookies.

Visit Cookie Settings to learn how CF Benchmarks uses cookies and to adjust your preferences.