Saad Ullah
Enthusiastic in a Weak Market
Nasdaq is very eager to start off the Bitcoin Futures. The decision to go ahead, even with the recent prices of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies tumbling shows how the exchange sees the long term value increments of the digital currency.
The launch comes from a drive of “two people familiar with the matter” who have looked into the development of the product.
Slow and Steady
The decision of Nasdaq to start offering Bitcoin Futures comes nearly after a year it said it was looking into it. Back then, the stock exchange had said it will start offering the crypto instrument in mid of 2018. The year long working has led to Nasdaq losing a portion of the market, since its competitors, CBOE, CME and others had announced intentions of foray into crypto market a bit before Nasdaq did and have had their services out since November 2017.
With the stock exchange finally starting off its services, it will have a lot of catching up to do. Considering that competitors like exchange Bakkt, which is going to launch a physical version of Bitcoin Futures, Nasdaq will need a lot of convincing to grab customers.
The launch was also delayed by other issues, such as closely “working to satisfy the concerns of the U.S.’s main swaps regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC], before launching the contracts” and the preparation causing executives to delay the launch by roughly six weeks.
More and more traditional platforms and markets are offering crypto instruments and products. Even with Bitcoin now at a 13 year low, big players are convinced that the largest cryptocurrency still has a lot to offer in terms of profit.
Saad Ullah
