written by

Avoncourt Team

Culture Blog - Dec 11, 2017

Bitcoin Makes its American Debut

Imagine Uber’s first trip: an official transaction was completed using the technology Uber provided, certain of its value to become a useful resource to people around the world. And it did. Now we have an even more useful instrument entering the financial world of derivatives: bitcoin.

Bitcoin has gained its international recognition with the start of the first exchange of products with its name in a financial market. On December 11, 2017, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) – one of the US futures trading platforms – started exchanging bitcoin futures and therefore bet on its evolution.

“It’s equivalent to Uber’s or Lyft’s first trip, or the first rental of a property by Airbnb,” said Bob Fitzsimmons, director of futures contracts at Wedbusch Securities.

The CBOE “gives legitimacy because it recognizes that bitcoin is an asset like any other (dollar, euro, oil, gas, soy) and that it can be traded,” added Nick Colas, a Data Trek Research expert.

Futures (derivatives) contracts are trades where an investor agrees to buy or sell an asset for a certain amount at a future date, in order to hedge against price fluctuations or speculate.

The first future deal for bitcoin began trading on the Chicago Stock Exchange, and will be followed a week later by the CME. The Nasdaq plans to open its contract next year.

Bitcoin, which started circulating in 2009 and soared last week to over $17,000 per unit on CBOE recognition, has so far largely been traded over the internet.