The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) recently announced that it will stop quoting bitcoin futures. Bitcoin cynic Mark Dow seems to be screwed up about the news.
CBOE was the first exchange to offer bitcoin futures at the end of 2017 and the price of bitcoin (BTC) then rose enormously. The market was convinced that institutional money would finally enter the market. Rival the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) also started offering bitcoin futures shortly thereafter.
However, the price of bitcoin fell in 2018 and the trading volume of bitcoin futures on CBOE turned out to be hugely disappointing.
It is still unknown why the CBOE took this decision and whether it is permanent. It is speculated that the disappointing trade volume causes the CBOE to revise its cryptocurrencies strategy.
The news from the CBOE seems to be looking forward to Mark Dow, former economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and known for going short on bitcoin when the price peaked in December 2017:
Thanks for the memories! $ XBT R.I.P. https://t.co/vdBeAKwU7D
– Dow (@mark_dow) March 15, 2019
All joking aside, since I had to roll my #bitcoin exposure every month last year, I saw that liquidity got worse every time. Hard to buy the story about broadening institutional adoption when you see this. $ BTC $ XBT https://t.co/3gXFjwl5qc
– Dow (@mark_dow) March 14, 2019
Dow indicates that he does not so much believe in the story that the arrival of institutional investors will make the market flourish. Joe Weisenthal, editor at Bloomberg, seems to agree with that and calls it one of the greatest inventions of last year:
The idea that crypto futures would be one of the most busted narratives of the last year. https://t.co/13RGkcDcBx
– Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) March 15, 2019
On the other hand, there are again people who think that the conclusion that institutional money is not interested, because CBOE stops its bitcoin futures in time, is still a long way off.
The announcement by CBOE so far does not seem to have a negative impact on the price of bitcoin. In contrast; the BTC rate has broken the $ 4,000 this weekend.
Anthony Pompliano, founder of Morgan Creek Digital, said last month that institutional money is finally entering the crypto market.
The CBOE, together with VanEck, has another application for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) on the table with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Fidelity Investments announced last week that it had launched a special crypto department for institutional investors; Fidelity Digital Assets.
