Financial firms are showing an increased interest in cryptocurrencies. That is a surprising development, although one that comes at a critical time. Bitcoin and all other currencies direly need an influx of institutional money to keep the train rolling. According to Thomson Reuters, one in five finance firms will launch crypto trading in 2018 or early 2019.
With financial firms getting interested in Bitcoin trading, exciting things are bound to happen. Right now, buying cryptocurrencies often requires the use of an exchange or another trading platform. That is not the most convenient way of dealing with things by any means. As of right now, that situation will seemingly come to change. Financial firms show an interest in trading cryptocurrencies as of right now.
Financial Firm’s eye the Bitcoin Market
A survey by Thomson Reuters paints an interesting picture in this regard. By surveying 400 firms, the agency wants to gauge overall interest in cryptocurrency. Twenty percent of those firms want to launch crypto trading facilities in the coming 12 months. Although it is still a niche market, the interest is growing. In fact, it may provide a passive revenue stream for financial firms in the future.
It is expected most of these firms will launch this venture in the next six months. That would mean a lot of institutional money can flow into the cryptocurrency market very soon. How this will be achieved, remains a bit of a mystery. More futures contracts providers is certainly a possible outcome. This is not the same as buying cryptocurrency directly, even though futures expose users to volatility in the same manner.
CME and CBOE have launched such futures in December of 2017. So far, the interest in these contracts has been rather abysmal, but things continue to evolve at a steady pace. It will be interesting to see how these companies decide to expose investors to cryptocurrency. There is a bright future ahead for this nascent industry, assuming people can conveniently invest in Bitcoin and altcoins. These financial firms will have to make that happen in one way or another.
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