The world’s largest futures exchange is reportedly working on a plan to offer spot trading in Bitcoin (BTC), amid growing interest in crypto-based investments.
The Financial Times quotes three people familiar with the matter reports that CME Group has already held discussions with traders looking to buy and sell cryptocurrency on a regulated marketplace.
The plan, which has not yet been finalized, is to run CME’s spot trading activities through the EBS currency trading platform in Switzerland.
A crypto trading manager is skeptical about the derivatives giant operating its Bitcoin trading business as two markets with CME in Chicago and EBS in Switzerland.
“I find it difficult to see how they could achieve all the efficiencies available.”
CME already hosts Bitcoin futures trading, but the launch of spot trading for major crypto assets will make it easier for investors to place basic trades, a popular trading strategy among professional crypto traders that involves borrowing money to sell futures while keeping the underlying assets be purchased and make a profit from the difference.
The development comes as the popularity of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) among deep-pocketed investors increases.
According to Bloomberg senior ETF analyst, Boston-based hedge fund Bracebridge Capital has $262 million in ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB), $81 million in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and $20 million in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC). )
In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), banking giant JPMorgan Chase also announced that it now holds $760,000 worth of spot Bitcoin ETFs on behalf of its clients, spread across BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO). Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF.
Banking giant Wells Fargo also owns 2,245 shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, currently worth $130,254.
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