World’s second largest stock exchange, Nasdaq, is still on track to launch a Bitcoin Futures product, and we may see the offering go live as early as Q1 2019 according to anonymous sources who spoke to Bloomberg.
According to “two persons who are familiar with the matter,” momentum is already building towards the launch, even though the tech-heavy exchange has not given away much about the nature of the Futures Contract.
The sources said that Nasdaq “has been working to satisfy the concerns of the U.S.’s main swaps regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC], before launching the contracts.”
These concerns are expected to be addressed soon, thus, allowing the exchange to roll out the offering.
It is to be recalled that a pending approval by the CFTC was cited by crypto startup Bakkt as one of the reasons why they postponed the launch of their Bitcoin Futures. Whether the regulators will approve the products come next year is a development we will keep our eyes on.
Has Nasdaq Been Buying Bitcoin OTC?
It was around this time one year ago that Nasdaq first hinted that they would launch a Bitcoin Futures Contract in mid-2018. However, the move failed to push through after the exchange said it was caught up with deciding how it could make their offering different from what their competitors at Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) were planning to roll out.
What perhaps catches the eye is that at the time that Nasdaq stalled its plans, Bitcoin had just come off a meteoric bull run with prices around $13,000. Now the value of a Bitcoin is below $3800.
Has the exchange been waiting for Bitcoin to plunge before buying the dip to launch their Futures Contract?
We cannot say for sure!
However, Anthony Pompliano suggested yesterday that the latest bitcoin performance is washing out retail investors to usher in institutional investors. He also mentioned that the institutional investors may be accumulating Bitcoin over-the-counter (OTC), a thought that comes to mind now that Nasdaq has reignited interest in a Futures Contract despite the market decline.
Whatever the case is, we can be sure of that something impressive is building in this bearish market. Will Bitcoin prices explode after the plunge? Only time will tell.
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