Yahoo Finance First Bitcoin, Now Ether Futures Contracts Officially Launch
Following the introduction of bitcoin futures contracts towards the end of 2017, ether futures contracts now have a place in the markets as well. London-based digital asset exchange Crypto Facilities announced the product providing ether derivatives trading last week. According to the firm, Crypto Facilities is completely “authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority,” meaning the news could potentially mean another big step in the direction of garnering attention from institutional investors.
This isn’t the firm’s first time introducing cryptocurrency futures contracts and derivatives trading to the markets. Before this latest announcement, Crypto Facilities had already been offering both bitcoin futures and Ripple’s XRP futures contracts as well. Ether, the cryptocurrency powering the Ethereum blockchain, is simply the latest addition to Crypto Facilities’ futures family, and a non-surprising one at that.
Timo Schlaefer, the founder of Crypto Facilities and former executive director from Goldman Sachs in London, has said that:
“Ether is the second most liquid cryptocurrency after bitcoin, trading in the billions of dollars daily, and we are excited to be launching ETH futures. The Ethereum network is the pre-eminent blockchain for smart contracts, and we believe this new trading instrument will attract more investors and bring greater liquidity to the marketplace.”
Suggested Articles
Ether (ETH) in the Markets
Ether (ETH) is the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization in the markets, behind none other than bitcoin (BTC). After suffering a rough beginning to the month, ether (ETH) has been recovering from a nearly $360 low. By bringing smart contracts to the cryptocurrency industry, the Ethereum platform has remained crucial in the meteoric rise the industry saw towards the end of 2017.
Unlike many other cryptocurrencies, the platform ether (ETH) is derived from, Ethereum, established an easy way for teams to develop their own unique cryptocurrencies by issuing tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. Instead of requiring a full team of developers and experienced blockchain engineers, the Ethereum platform streamlined the entire process. Thousands of projects have gone live utilizing ERC-20 tokens for crowdfunding and utility token usage.
Ethereum has been the platform of choice for many of the leading blockchain disruptors in Fintech. Though there are almost too many tokens to keep track of on Ethereum at this point, there are some names that stick out in the fields they’re operating in.
EOS.io, for example, raised funding for their platform development utilizing ERC-20 tokens. EOS is a peculiar case because the ultimate goal of the project after completion is to be a direct competitor to Ethereum with a smart contract-based network of their own. However, even one of Ethereum’s largest competitors used the Ethereum network to crowdfund their project.
Homelend is another example of a company using the Ethereum platform to disrupt a massive industry—real estate. Running on the Ethereum blockchain with an ERC-20 token of their own, Homelend is bringing the decentralized nature of blockchain technology to one of the oldest sectors of the economy by bringing crowdfunding and decentralization to the mortgage industry.
Lastly, companies like Basic Attention Token (BAT) are bringing Ethereum’s robust infrastructure to reinvent newer industries as well, like digital advertising. BAT has been gaining a lot of traction and attention from those in the online marketing space and uses Ethereum to make business more fair and efficient.
Regardless of what industry ERC-20 tokens are breaking into, the underlying Ethereum network is providing the infrastructure. A wide array of projects, some notable, some not, use Ethereum as a means for blockchain implementation. Whether teams are using the Ethereum platform to raise funds for a project or utilizing the Ethereum blockchain for their own vision, ether (ETH) is at the heart of it and likely to gain even more traction. It should come as no surprise that ether has the second largest market capitalization in the markets.
This article was originally posted on FX Empire
