Nasdaq recently confirmed reports of its Bitcoin futures launch set for 2019. The US stock exchange operator says that it is committed to its investments in the emerging cryptocurrency market.
Nasdaq Bitcoin Futures
According to Joseph Christinat, the Vice President of the exchange’s media team, the Nasdaq Bitcoin futures launch will happen in 2019. This announcement comes as a confirmation of an earlier report that quoted inside sources that saying the launch would happen next year.
Speaking to Express, Christinat said the launch was contingent on obtaining a favorable response from the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). For the Nasdaq senior executive, the platform has put in a lot of work and approval is almost a foregone conclusion.
According to Christinat:
We’ve seen plenty of speculation and rumors about what we might be doing, but no one has thought to come to us and ask if we can confirm it, so, here you go – we’re doing this, and it’s happening.
In Too Deep to Back Out Now
The Nasdaq confirmation comes at a time when the cryptocurrency market continues to struggle. Commenting on this particular topic, Christinat, said:
We’ve put a hell of a lot of money and energy into delivering the ability to do this and we’ve been all over it for a long time – way before the market went into turmoil, and that will not affect the timing of this in any way. No. Period. We’re doing this no matter what.
Christinat’s comments seem to portray the attitude of some other institutional players in the cryptocurrency space. Recent reports revealed that Grayscale investors now own more than one percent of the total BTC circulating supply.
Nasdaq has also continuously been open about its cryptocurrency agenda. In 2018 alone, the platform has announced plans for a security token exchange as well as a cryptocurrency trading platform. For Nasdaq, most of these plans are contingent on the emergence of a robust regulatory landscape for virtual currencies.
While Nasdaq appears to be still bullish about the prospects of the market, the situation continues to follow the same trend set since mid-November. BTC has spent the past few days falling below or climbing above the $4,000 price mark.
Do you expect the launch of the Nasdaq Bitcoin futures to affect BTC price positively? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
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