Nasdaq and Cantor Fitzgerald Plan to Launch Bitcoin Futures in First Half 2018

Nasdaq Inc. and broker Cantor Fitzgerald LP are looking to join the rush on Wall Street to trade bitcoin. Nasdaq aims to launch bitcoin futures in the first half of 2018, according to a story in The Wall Street Journal. Separately, Cantor said it is seeking to launch bitcoin derivatives on an exchange of its own, also in the first half of next year. Nasdaq’s bitcoin contract would debut on Nasdaq Futures, or NFX, a marketplace that the New York-based exchange group launched in 2015 that, until now, has mainly focused on energy trading. Nasdaq isn’t completely new to bitcoin. It lists an exchange-traded note linked to the digital currency on one of its European exchanges. Cantor aims to launch a bitcoin swap—a type of derivative—on Cantor Futures Exchange LP. Cantor’s swap would allow traders to bet on bitcoin prices up to three months out, with built-in protections to limit their losses if bitcoin prices swung above $15,000 or below $5,000. The firm expects retail traders to be the initial adopters of the new contract, but it is targeting institutional players too, executives said.