Joseph Christinat, the vice president of Nasdaq’s press group, has verified that the market will likely start bitcoin futures. At a recent interview with a paper at the U.K., Christinat demonstrated the platform intends to begin supplying bitcoin futures contracts over the first half of 2019.
Nasdaq Waiting for ‘Go-Ahead’ From CFTC
Christinat advised the Daily Express the planet’s second-largest stock market by market capitalization hopes to start bitcoin futures in the first six months of this year.
“Bitcoin Futures will be listed and it should launch in the first half of next year,” Christinat said, adding that Nasdaq is currently “waiting for the go-ahead” from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). “There’s been enough work put into this to make that academic. We’ve seen plenty of speculation and rumors about what we might be doing … so, here you go — we’re doing this, and it’s happening.”
Exchange Unfazed by Cryptocurrency Bear Market
Christinat maintained that Nasdaq stays dedicated to ensuring that the launching of bitcoin futures, highlighting the organization’s long-term outlook on the cryptocurrency market.
“We got into the blockchain game five years ago,” Christinat stated. “When the technology first popped up we just leant out of the window and shouted ‘hey come over here’ right at it.”
Christinat also stated Nasdaq has committed a substantial number of funds toward launch bitcoin futures. “We’ve put a hell of a lot of money and energy into delivering the ability to do this and we’ve been all over it for a long time — way before the market went into turmoil, and that will not affect the timing of this in any way. No. Period. We’re doing this no matter what.”
Can you believe we’ll see the launching of Nasdaq’s bitcoin stocks before the next half of 2019? Share your ideas in the comments section below.