Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Nasdaq Plans To Offer Bitcoin Futures In Early 2018 (engadget.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the crystal-ball dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Engadget: Nasdaq is planning to launch contracts for bitcoin futures in the first half of 2018, according to The Wall Street Journal, which will enable investors to predict and put money on the future price of the currency. The Wall Street Journal also reports that broker Cantor Fitzgerald will be launching bitcoin derivatives on its own exchange in the first half of next year as well, making for yet another brokerage to help make bitcoin a more mainstream financial instrument. The relative youth and volatility of the currency still keeps many investors away, of course, but bitcoin is probably here to stay, even if this is just a bubble. New uses for regular folks to spend with the currency continue to rise, like the UK Visa card based on bitcoin and Square's testing of the currency in its payment app.

6 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. Basder-Meinhof by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 1, Insightful

    It seems like everyone is buying into the Bitcoin hype these days.

    Even non-techies are asking me why I didn't tell them to invest in bitcoin 5 years ago. I shrug and say I didn't receive payment in them for services rendered, nor have a high end graphics card and free electricity to mine, didn't want to end up on an ASIO watchlist and probably would have had my wallet hacked or coins stolen from an exchange.

  2. Correct me if I am wrong... by Topwiz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So Bitcoin mining involves running a special computer whose sole purpose is to waste electricity. If you have a solar panel I suppose that isn't an issue but if you live where coal is used, you are adding to pollution/global warming.

    1. Re:Correct me if I am wrong... by Baron_Yam · · Score: 4, Insightful

      >So Bitcoin mining involves running a special computer whose sole purpose is to waste electricity.

      Ridiculous amounts of it, though slightly less per unit of economic value now that Bitcoin's exchange value is so high.

      Of course, Bitcoin has a fix for that... the increase in price has made mining more economically viable, so more people will get involved with more ASIC farms, and Bitcoin will respond with an increase in difficulty. The level of waste will be maintained.

  3. Re:Futures are a way to 'control' price by religionofpeas · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The main purpose of future markets is to allow predictable prices in the future, or for hedging other risks. For instance, an airline can get a futures contract for jet fuel for the next summer, so they can already plan their budget without risking sudden price shocks. At the same time, a refinery can sell that jet fuel for next summer with exactly the same benefits.

    Speculators that sit in the middle actually help grease the system by providing liquidity. If jet fuel is cheap now, but the future price is high, it becomes profitable to buy some right now, fill up a storage tank, and sell a contract for the summer. Because of these middle men, sharp shocks in the price of the commodity are smoothed.

  4. Re:Futures are a way to 'control' price by Baron_Yam · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Futures make sense (to me) when you're dealing with something that takes time to mature and requires significant capital up front.

    Most of what I see is raw gambling, though.

  5. Time to get out by Xyrus · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Get out now. This is pure bubble speculation. There is nothing holding BC up other than people's irrational behavior. If this isn't a sign that BC is in a bubble then nothing else is. The whole thing is going to come tumbling down hard and fast.

    --
    ~X~