Bitcoin Breaks All Records as CME Group Announces Bitcoin Futures

CME Group, the world's largest derivatives market operator, plans to introduce an instrument based on the price of Bitcoin.

The price information, known as the Bitcoin Reference Rate, is an average of the prices from several exchanges: Bitstamp, GDAX, itBit and Kraken. None of those exchanges have signed up with the New York Agreement, which means the asset pricing may be based on a unified choice for following a single version of the Bitcoin blockchain.

"Given increasing client interest in the evolving cryptocurrency markets, we have decided to introduce a bitcoin futures contract," said Terry Duffy, CME Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "As the world's largest regulated FX marketplace, CME Group is the natural home for this new vehicle that will provide investors with transparency, price discovery and risk transfer capabilities."

The investment instrument was offered in partnership with the CryptoFacilities company.

"We are excited to work with CME Group on this product and see the BRR used as the settlement mechanism of this important product," said Dr.Timo Schlaefer, CEO of Crypto Facilities. "The BRR has proven to reliably and transparently reflect global bitcoin-dollar trading and has become the price reference of choice for financial institutions, trading firms and data providers worldwide."

With this, the CME Group lines up withNASDAQ Nordicin offering an exposure to the risk of cryptocurrencies via a derivative instrument.

The price of Bitcoin is near record and the market capitalization of the coin has reached $104.7 billion. But the dollar-denominated product does not mean a bigger influx of funds directly into Bitcoin. Currently, only outright demand for the digital asset raises its price.

Other products aimed at mainstream investors who do not wish to hold Bitcoin in a wallet come from Grayscale Investments, which has opened funds and buysBitcoin,Ethereum ClassicandZCashon behalf of its clients.