A US regulator has allowed CME Group and CBOE Global Markets to list Bitcoins, leading to a daily high of $10,500 for the controversial cryptocurrency.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced the news on Friday, allowing CME and CBOE to offer Bitcoins if they comply with the law.
CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo said: “Bitcoin, a virtual currency, is a commodity unlike any the commission has dealt with in the past,”
“We expect that the futures exchanges, through information sharing agreements, will be monitoring the trading activity on the relevant cash platforms,” he added in a statement.
Trading in the cryptocurrency is highly unregulated and are seen as a way to avoid central banks and governments. Thier proliferation has seen mainstream investors want their share.
Cboe President Chris Concannon said: “The launch of the futures will actually make the market healthier. It will create pricing equilibrium in the market. Clients who are holding bitcoin now have no way to hedge their risk. These products allow them to hedge, and to take opposing views. More importantly, it brings a wave of regulatory oversight.”
Not all in finance are excited by the expansion of Bitcoins. Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive of Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) has said the currency is a vehicle for drug dealers, murderers and those in North Korea.
“Something that moves 20 percent [overnight] does not feel like a currency. It is a vehicle to perpetrate fraud,” he said. “Bitcoin is not for me. A lot of things that have not been for me in the past 20 years have worked out, but I am not guessing that this will work out.”
The past week has been volatile for Bitcoins. On Wednesday the currency reached all-time highs of $11,395, only then to plunge by 20 percent in the hours that followed.