FUTURES GROWTH: CME Group, the Chicago-based exchange operator, said its bitcoin futures contracts grew in popularity with institutional investors last quarter, with the number of open contracts up 61 percent year to year. Despite bitcoin's 25 percent drop in price this quarter, the volume of CME contracts fell just 1 percent from Q2 levels. Full story
TO THE MOON? Is the next programmed reduction of the miners’ rewards – or halving – going to send bitcoin’s price skyrocketing? It depends who you ask. At the recent World Digital Mining Summit in Frankfurt, Jihan Wu, co-founder and ex-CEO of Bitmain, said any gains might already be baked in to the price. But Matthew Roszak, chairman of the blockchain software company Bloq, expected the price to reach “somewhere between $15,000 and $100,000,” and for the halving to kick off “a decade-plus of rising.” Full story
GETTING REAL: Twenty-one organizations – including crypto companies Coinbase and Xapo – have signed the Libra Association charter, days after a slew of high-profile defections from the Facebook-led cryptocurrency project. Following a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, the Libra Association also named its board of directors and formalized the consortium’s executive team. Facebook remains a key player in the project with Calibra CEO and former Facebook blockchain lead David Marcus taking a seat on the five-person board. Full story
RENEWABLES APPEAL: Layer1, a crypto startup bringing wind-powered bitcoin mining rigs to West Texas, raised $30 million from investors including Peter Thiel. CEO Alexander Liegl said bitcoin is not likely to crowd out other uses for clean energy reflects a misunderstanding of the market: “Renewable energy is still primarily under-utilized so you don’t actually have a zero-sum game,” he said. Full story
BINANCE ETP: Binance’s native cryptocurrency will serve as the underlying asset to a new exchange traded product (ETP). The crypto exchange said it has partnered with fintech firm Amun to develop the USD-denominated ETP, which is being listed on the Switzerland’s principal stock exchange SIX under the ticker ABNB. Amun CEO Hany Rashwan told CoinDesk the ETP will be backed initially by $20 million worth of Binance coins (BNB), representing nearly a quarter of the firm’s total crypto assets under management. Full story | 
