The CME Group, a leading global derivatives marketplace, has announced it will launch regulated pricing products for Hedera's native token, HBAR. The new offering includes a daily reference rate and a real-time index, scheduled to go live on December 29.
The CME CF Hedera-Dollar Real-Time Index (HBARUSD_RTI) will provide continuous price updates, while daily benchmark reference rates will be published after 4:00 p.m. local time in three key financial regions: London (HBARUSD_RR), New York (HBARUSD_NY), and the Asia-Pacific region (HBARUSD_AP). This data will be distributed via the CME CF Cryptocurrency Pricing Market Data feed on channel 213 through CME Globex, which is migrating to Google Cloud infrastructure. CME clarified that these indices will not be used for settling futures or derivative contracts.
This development is a significant institutional validation for the Hedera network, moving its pricing data from fragmented, unregulated exchanges into a standardized and compliant framework. The availability of regulated, transparent pricing data is crucial for attracting institutional investors who prioritize such infrastructure.
The announcement comes as part of a broader expansion of CME's cryptocurrency pricing coverage, which already includes assets like Bitcoin and Ether, and coincides with a series of planned technology and connectivity updates for the CME Globex platform through 2026. Despite the positive institutional news, HBAR's market price reacted negatively in the short term, falling approximately 5.3% following the announcement to trade around $0.1135.
