It has been confirmed by the Vice President of the American Stock Exchange, Nasdaq Joseph Christinat that the exchange will launch Bitcoin futures in the first half of 2019 pending a regulatory approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Traditional banking institutions have been starting to open up a bit more to the emerging asset class.

The stock exchange has been getting ready for the launch of Bitcoin Futures for most of this year after spending years researching the impact Bitcoin Futures could have. Vice President Joseph Christinat has confirmed the impending listing stating:

“Bitcoin Futures will be listed and it should launch in the first half of next year – we’re just waiting for the go-ahead from the CFTC but there’s been enough work put into this to make that academic. We’ve seen plenty of speculation and rumours about what we might be doing, but no one has thought to come to us and ask if we can confirm it, so, here you go – we’re doing this, and it’s happening.”

At the current time of writing Bitcoin is struggling below the $3,900 mark even though it was worth three times this last year. The incredible volatility has introduced several traders and investors. According to News BTC, the institutional side of the market, there has been a lot of interest especially during this year but the stock exchange was invested in the industry for years before this. The Vice President has said:

“We got into the blockchain game five years ago, and when the technology first popped up we just leant out of the window and shouted ‘hey come over here’ right at it. “We’ve put a hell of a lot of money and energy into delivering the ability to do this and we’ve been all over it for a long time – way before the market went into turmoil, and that will not affect the timing of this in any way. No. Period. We’re doing this no matter what.”

The Chief Market Analyst at IG Group, Chris Beauchamp said that “anything that broadens out the liquidity of bitcoin and encourages usability” is welcome.

Rumours intention Bitcoin Futures being listed by Nasdaq in the first half of 2019 came out late last month. With the news actually popping up almost a year after Nasdaq had announced its plans to do so.

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