The CME got official clearance from regulators that they can launch futures products starting December 18th.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) officially stated that it will allow the CME as well as the CBOE to launch bitcoin futures contracts.
The former of which is scheduled to launch as soon as 2 and half weeks.
More on the release can be read here:
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/01/cme-says-its-launching-bitcoin-futures-on-dec-18.html
This represents a major milestone for cryptocurrencies.
For the first time bitcoin and cryptocurrencies will be brought to major Wall Street firms.
To this point, most firms were reluctant to purchase bitcoin/cryptocurrencies because of the lack of oversight and regulation of the markets they trade in.
Which were completely rational concerns considering all the risks.
Just to name a few of the risks off the top of my head:
Numerous exchanges have been hacked as well as committed some type of fraud over the years, which represented too great of a risk for most institutional type of funds to take.
Then there was also the secondary risk of losing their wallet keys or something of the sort.
On top of those risks, there was also the inability of funds to hedge their bets if they decided to get involved in the space.
Now, just about all of those concerns have been mitigated.
These new investors don't have to worry about hacks or losing wallet keys as they are going to be buying products from reputable exchanges that also have insurance.
There also is no risk of losing their wallet keys as they can buy these products directly in their brokerage accounts.
This is expected to bring in lots of Wall Street money to the space.
The question on everyone's mind is, what will happen now that major firms will have the ability to short these things?
The "short and distort" strategy has been used successfully for decades on many smaller market cap firms and smaller asset classes. I am sure it will be tried here as well.
In fact many in the silver market claim that large institutional money has successfully kept a lid on that market for the better part of 3 decades now.
Will the same thing happen to bitcoin and cryptocurrencies?
I certainly hope not, but we will know a lot more over the next couple months.
My personal opinion is that all this new money might orchestrate a massive run up in prices where they then decide to put on massive short positions and run the prices into the ground.
We will see.
Stay informed my friends.
Sources:
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/01/cme-says-its-launching-bitcoin-futures-on-dec-18.html
Image Sources:
http://btcrumor.com/the-love-hate-relationship-of-bitcoin-vs-wall-street/
https://qz.com/1141524/bitcoin-price-at-11000-as-nasdaq-plans-bitcoin-futures/
