Investing.com – Cryptocurrency prices rose on Monday in Asia following reports that UK-based CoinFLEX would offer future contracts for Bitcoin and other digital coins.

Bitcoin hiked 5.34% to $4,002.9 and Ethereum rose 2.11% to $152.68 at 1:30 AM ET (06:30 GMT).

XRP also rose 2.56% to $0.36116, while Litecoin surged 8.53% to $37.73.

A British Bitcoin exchange named Coin Futures and Lending Exchange (CoinFLEX) will offer futures contracts for Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum that can go up to 20 times, according to Bloomberg.

What sets it apart from other digital currency exchanges is that the futures traded in CoinFLEX will be physically delivered, so the owners will be offered the underlying virtual currency instead of a cash payment, the report said.

“Crypto derivatives could become an order or magnitude larger than spot markets and the main thing that’s holding back that growth is the lack of physical delivery. Volumes are reduced because of a problem of trust when it comes to cash-settled trades,” CoinFLEX CEO Mark Lamb told Bloomberg.

Lamb added that the daily volume of trading in the market is at around $3 million, and there’s plenty of room for growth in contracts tied to digital assets.

The market has also seen a push for cryptocurrency regulations. Gemini Trust Co., a digital token exchange founded by the Winklevoss brothers, said in a new ad campaign that crypto-assets should adopt best practices and follow regulations, according to The Wall Street Journal.

“We believe that investors coming into cryptocurrency deserve the exact same protections as investors in more traditional markets, adhering to the same standards, practices, regulations and compliance protocols,” Chris Roan, head of marketing at Gemini, was quoted as saying.

Elsewhere, five cryptocurrency exchanges joined the Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association, which seeks to follow investor safety standards. The country’s financial watchdog officially offered the organisation self-regulatory status in October last year to check up on the industry.

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