Cboe's New S&P Deal Opens the Door to Tokenized Options

In brief

• Cboe Global Markets and S&P Dow Jones Indices extended their exclusive licensing agreement through 2051, and said they may collaborate on new products "beyond traditional index derivatives," including tokenized options contracts.
• The tokenization plan is exploratory, not a launch—any tokenized contract would be separate from the SPX options trading today, a market that hit a record 970.6 million contracts in 2025; Cboe shares rose more than 6%.
• The move follows a wave of institutional tokenization, from NYSE and BlackRock to a new SEC "innovation exemption" for tokenized stocks.

Cboe Global Markets and S&P Dow Jones Indices are exploring whether to bring options contracts on-chain, tucking a tokenization ambition into a 25-year extension of their decades-old licensing partnership.

The two firms said Monday they had renewed their exclusive licensing agreement through 2051, preserving Cboe's rights to offer options on the S&P 500 Index, or SPX, its flagship product.

The partnership dates to 1983, when Cboe launched the first S&P 500 index options. Beyond locking in that arrangement, the companies said they may collaborate on new products "beyond traditional index derivatives," specifically naming tokenized options contracts.