• ErisX becomes the second officially regulated and compliant Physical Bitcoin Futures Exchange in the US

Bakkt launched the first Physical Bitcoin Futures exchange, meaning that Bitcoin futures contracts could be redeemed for actual Bitcoins when the expiration date is reached. However, Bakkt now has some competition, with ErisX launching Physical Bitcoin Futures as of 17 December. Also, ErisX is only the third officially regulated venue to have Bitcoin Futures of any form, alongside Bakkt and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).

Notably, although the ErisX Physical Bitcoin Futures have launched, they will not be available through merchants or brokerages until early 2020. That being said, that date is only weeks away. Essentially, ErisX is waiting for liquidity to grow before going fully public.

Aside from the new Physical Bitcoin Futures product, which was made possible by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) granting them a Derivatives Clearing Organization license, ErisX also offers spot trading services in 44 states. The new platform was originally launched by Eric Exchange, which is a derivatives market provider for classical assets that was founded in 2010, and it seems the plan for ErisX was to provide crypto derivatives as soon as the regulatory situation became favorable.

Overall, this news is another step towards the institutionalization and maturation of the crypto space.

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