Following in CME Groups footsteps, NASDAQ announces plans to launch Bitcoin futures in the first half of 2018. The Wall Street Journal reports that Nasdaq Inc. is planning to launch Bitcoin futures as soon the first half of 2018. Nasdaqs Bitcoin contracts will launch on Nasdaq Futures (NFX), a marketplace launched in 2015 that is most famous for energy trading. This latest news comes in the wake of the CME Group, the worlds largest online trading platform, announcing that they will launch Bitcoin futures this December. Traditional financial institutions have so far been reluctant to support Bitcoin, but the digital currencys increasing price and popularity would appear to have finally given them no other choice either take a slice of the Bitcoin business or lose it.
I have been anticipating this movement from other exchanges and financial institutions to follow what CME is now brewing. and this is just USA, what about other parts of the globe especially the many financial centers we have? I am sure that in 2018 we would see a boom for products and services in the Bitcoin derivatives category introduced by those who are already in the traditional investment platforms. We are all hoping that this trend can be helping Bitcoin a lot for its push in going into the mainstream and the move towards legitimization. Maybe we can already conclude that definitely Bitcoin is really here to stay for a long, long time! Bitcoin continues its tradition of beating the odds and surprising us everyday with new developments all over the world.