Nasdaq Confirms Plans to Launch Bitcoin Futures in First Half of 2019

Joseph Christinat, the vice president of Nasdaq’s media team, has confirmed that the exchange will soon launch bitcoin futures. In a recent interview with a newspaper in the U.K., Christinat revealed that the platform plans to start offering bitcoin futures contracts within the first half of 2019.

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Nasdaq Waiting for ‘Go-Ahead’ From CFTC

Christinat told the Daily Express that the world’s second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization expects to launch bitcoin futures trading in the first six months of the coming year.

“Bitcoin Futures will be listed and it should launch in the first half of next year,” Christinat said, adding that Nasdaq is currently “waiting for the go-ahead” from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). “There’s been enough work put into this to make that academic. We’ve seen plenty of speculation and rumors about what we might be doing … so, here you go — we’re doing this, and it’s happening.”

Exchange Unfazed by Cryptocurrency Bear Market

Christinat claimed that Nasdaq remains committed to ensuring the launch of bitcoin futures, emphasizing the company’s long-term perspective on the cryptocurrency industry.

“We got into the blockchain game five years ago,” Christinat stated. “When the technology first popped up we just leant out of the window and shouted ‘hey come over here’ right at it.”

Christinat also said Nasdaq has devoted a significant amount of resources toward launching bitcoin futures. “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.”

Do you think we will see the launch of Nasdaq’s bitcoin futures before the second half of 2019? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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