ADVERTISEMENT

‎‎‎ ‏‏‎

Arthur Hayes, co-founder and CEO of the world’s leading Bitcoin and crypto derivatives platform BitMEX, known for trading Bitcoin and other digital assets with up to 100x leverage, has revealed plans to launch an options platform within 12 to 18 months.

In a new Venture Coinist interview with crypto analyst Luke Martin, Hayes says,

“Hopefully by the summer of this year, you will be able to use Bitcoin and purchase the S&P 500 and Nasdaq QQQ indices using Bitcoin. And essentially, you won’t have any Bitcoin-US dollar risk. You’ll send Bitcoin, they’ll FX it into dollars, and then allow you to buy a swap. And then, when you want to leave, you’ll sell the swap, get back dollars, and then you can get back your Bitcoin, and then go along on your way.”

Options are a type of financial derivative that give buyers the right to buy or sell an asset at an agreed price in the future. Unlike futures on CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) options

Hayes describes the benefits of an options platform for emerging markets.

ADVERTISEMENT

“So this is hopefully going to allow people in emerging markets who don’t have access to some of the most liquid and notable indices in the world to use their Bitcoin to access traditional equity indices. So we’ll take upon this later this year but that is definitely something that one of the startups that we have invested in is working on.”

Hayes says the company is also exploring other ideas, including how users can issue Bitcoin bonds to raise funds for their businesses and related ventures.

﻿

Hayes, who adjusted his year-end Bitcoin prediction last year of $50,000, now believes Bitcoin will rally back to $10,000 by the end of 2019.