CME Group has added three regional U.S. dollar reference rates and real-time indices for Ethena’s ENA token, with daily publication beginning Aug. 24, crypto.news reported.
The new benchmarks
The suite uses the CME CF Ethena-Dollar Reference Rate for the London close under the ENAUSD RR identifier, while ENAUSD NY provides a New York closing rate and ENAUSD AP covers the end of the APAC trading day. Each rate is published at 4 p.m. in its respective region, letting firms select a valuation point that matches their working day. Publication continues seven days a week, including weekends and public holidays, reflecting the fact that ENA trades continuously even when traditional markets are closed.
Who calculates the rates
CF Benchmarks, the administrator that manages CME’s cryptocurrency indices, will calculate and publish the products. Rather than taking ENA’s price from a single platform, it draws on transactions from eligible spot exchanges that meet its constituent venue rules, reducing reliance on any one order book. Reference rates produce a fixed price for portfolio valuation and net asset value calculations, while real-time indices follow the token through the trading day for collateral monitoring and risk controls.
What it does not do
The announcement adds pricing tools, not a tradable contract. CME did not launch ENA futures, options or an exchange-traded fund, and any listed product would require its own terms and regulatory treatment. The addition places Ethena’s governance token beside a benchmark lineup that already spans Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, XRP, Cardano, Chainlink, Stellar, Avalanche and Sui, and follows CME’s June launch of Nasdaq CME Crypto Index futures and its May standard and micro futures for Avalanche and Sui.
For U.S. firms, the New York variant supplies an ENA price at 4 p.m. local time, aligning the benchmark with the close of the American equity trading day, and CF Benchmarks has long administered rates for CME’s crypto products, adding Crypto.com as a constituent exchange for Bitcoin and Ether indices in March 2025.
The move follows a sharp run in ENA this year; see our earlier look at Ethena’s recent market performance.
