Anchorage Digital applies to become a CFTC-registered swap dealer to offer bitcoin and ether options of up to a year

Anchorage Digital is asking to become a federally registered swap dealer to expand its institutional crypto options business. The company applied to register Anchorage Digital Swap Dealer, LLC with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission through the National Futures Association, The Block reported on Thursday.

If approved, the unit plans to offer European-style options on bitcoin and ether with maturities of up to one year, with more products possible later subject to internal and regulatory approvals. Institutional clients would be able to trade digital-asset derivatives with a CFTC-registered counterparty alongside Anchorage's custody and other services.

The application is pending. The NFA has not finished its review, and co-founder and chief executive Nathan McCauley said: "We aren't in a position to speculate on timing." He did not disclose trading volumes or growth figures for the existing options business, which The Block says has been driven by public companies holding bitcoin and ether and by asset managers and funds using options to manage exposure.

A registered swap dealer would face CFTC rules on capital, risk management and margin, modeled on the Dodd-Frank framework that applied to banks in interest rate, credit and foreign-exchange markets. Anchorage Digital Bank, N.A. became the first federally chartered digital asset bank in 2021 and is regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.