A German stockbroker has expressed interest in venturing into bitcoin futures, which would make the company the first in the country to offer them. This is Deutsche Böerse, a public limited company that operates on the Frankfurt, Xetra and Eurex exchanges since 1992.
One of its spokesmen informed a local media that they are studying the possibility of offering bitcoin futures:
We are thinking about futures, with which private investors and institutional investors can protect existing investments in bitcoins or establish the decreasing prices of cyber currency.
Deutsche Börse
As a measure to learn how to deal with fluctuations in the value of cryptocurrencies and to avoid possible manipulation of the market, this stockbroker wants to learn more about this before the official launch of bitcoin futures contracts, which would be offered in the subsidiary Eurex de Böerse.
A second spokesperson informed CNBC that the company is continually looking for new assets. In addition, he pointed out that they are considering both the advantages and the possible problems involved in bitcoin-based financial derivatives, such as price volatility, lack of regulation and the fact that this technology is still in the experimental phase. "As a fully regulated exchange, we have to address all of the above and more, before we can launch products," he said.
This attitude coincides with that of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, which views these contracts with cryptocurrencies with some mistrust (given the volatile nature of their prices) and has taken on the task of requesting a license from futures suppliers. of bitcoin that they want to offer to the investors of that country.
It should be noted that bitcoin futures are contracts made between two parties that fix the price at the time the agreement is agreed upon, establishing a future date for the exchange to take effect. These contracts began to be offered from approximately 16 thousand dollars on December 10 by the US company Cboe Global Markets. The event was the first opportunity in which bitcoin became a product regulated by a financial institution and boosted the cryptocurrency market.
Other companies such as CME Group, Nasdaq and Cantor Fitzgerald announced that they will offer short-term bitcoin futures. Other brokers have also joined this offer, such as LedgerX, Ukrainian Exchange and Vontobel Investment Banking.