If you logged onto the internet or turned on a finance channel today you probably heard or read that bitcoin is making another all time high.
It seems like those are happening every couple of days!
If not every couple days, every couple of weeks for sure!
The other day bitcoin was bolstered to new all time highs based on some vague rumors out of China that they could be removing their ban on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, though when I say "removing their ban", I really mean not renewing their current ban that is set to expire beginning of November.
That doesn't mean they couldn't just reinstate a new ban, but that is beside the point. The rumors are out there and bulls are running with them.
That brings me to today, what is causing the moon shot in bitcoin today?
That is most likely related to the news from the CME announcing that they will likely be live with bitcoin and cryptocurrency futures before the end of the year. (pending review)
Don't believe me? Well CNBC seems to be in agreement as to the cause as well:
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/31/cme-plans-to-launch-bitcoin-futures-by-year-end.html
CME is the leading global exchange for options and futures trading.
This announcement comes on the heels of the CBOE announcing they would have bitcoin derivatives products by early 2018.
(CBOE is the largest US based options exchange)
And...
It comes on the heels of LedgerX announcing a few weeks ago that they are already trading options contracts for institutional clients.
In a statement released recently LedgerX said they did $1 million in volume for the first week and over $2 million in volume for the second week.
Why all the excitement?
This is big time news for the entire space.
It adds legitimacy to bitcoin and the entire cryptocurrency space as being a legitimate asset class. The sooner these things get up and running the harder it is going to be for the crypto space to just go away.
It's also going to open the doors to an entirely new group of investors.
Many institutional investors would like some exposure to the space but aren't currently able with the investment products currently out there.
As regulated derivatives make their way onto the scene, more and more Wall Street money will start dipping their toes in.
Even if this money isn't buying the underlying directly, I would imagine a lot of new money will also find its way into the underlying.
Will this benefit more than just bitcoin?
I would assume more than just bitcoin will benefit from these developments.
I would imagine many of the top 10 or 20 coins will see a significant amount of new money coming in as people look to diversify themselves within the space.
There will also be those that think they have missed the train on bitcoin and will look to its younger brothers for some alpha.
Here's to looking at you steem!
For those reasons I am hopeful that what is good for bitcoin is ultimately good for steem etc.
Stay informed my friends.
Sources:
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/31/cme-plans-to-launch-bitcoin-futures-by-year-end.html
Image Sources:
https://news.bitcoin.com/cme-patent-physically-settled-bitcoin-derivatives-clearing-system/
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/31/cme-plans-to-launch-bitcoin-futures-by-year-end.html
https://twitter.com/abuomartube/status/261219439398227968
