Eurex has announced that it will be listing Europe’s first Bitcoin futures product on September 13, 2021, an initiative developed by digital asset provider ETC Group. While the United States is still stagnant about the approval of an ETF, Europe appears to be already moving ahead with the first Bitcoin futures that were launched by ETC Group, a leading provider of digital asset-backed securities.
Based on an official announcement, Eurex which is the biggest derivatives exchange will list the first Bitcoin (exchange-traded note) futures on September 13. With that launch, investors can access future contracts based on ETC Group’s BTCetc Physical Bitcoin (BTCE), the first exchange-traded product in the world.
This push for a bitcoin futures option comes after institutional demand has increased considerably in Europe. Randolf Roth, Eurex executive board member said:
“Given the growing institutional demand for secure exposure to Bitcoin, we are delighted to begin listing these Bitcoin ETN futures on our regulated trading and clearing infrastructure at Eurex.
This move will allow a greater number of market participants to trade and hedge Bitcoin, with this new future being treated in the same way as any other derivatives contract in terms of central clearing, netting, and risk management.”
ETC Group was launched in June 2021 and it is now one of the biggest traded crypto ETPs in the world with many firms operating there. Based on an official report from the company, the futures contract will be traded and physically delivered in BTCE that is entirely backed by bitcoin.
Europe Leads The US
The regulatory environment in the United States has not favored the cryptocurrency space. Even the little hope that was building is expected to crumble with the new infrastructure bill introduced just a few weeks ago. Regulatory bodies like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are currently stagnating to approve even one BTC ETF application.
In that context, Europe is proving to be quite a hospitable environment for crypto products after institutional demand for products linked to cryptos exploded compared to the United States.
Despite the pessimism among the investors in the US, Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenschein insisted that a cryptocurrency ETF in the country is more a matter of “when, not if,” and the price corrections that were seen last month enabled long-term holders to acquire more BTC.
Many European laws now favor cryptos more than ever. Based on August 1 reports, German-based institutional funds can allocate up to 20% of their portfolios in digital assets. This initiative came up after several local organizations demanded some exposure to crypto-related products.
