The New York Stock Exchange Nasdaq, which is also the second largest stock exchange in the world, has partnered with digital asset company, VanEck, to come up with regulated crypto 2.0 futures.
VanEck Plans For New Crypto Products
Gabor Gurbacs, director of digital asset technology at VanEck, officially unveiled the partnership during the Invest conference by CoinDesk. As per Gabor, both the companies are working towards the launch of new crypto products. These products shall hit the market in early 2019. The two are of the belief that their new crypto products shall be an upgrade to the existing regulatory standards faced by Bitcoin Futures.
During a panel, Gurbacs commented, “What I would like to indicate is that we have run some miles working on the [Commodity Futures Trading Commission] for bringing about the newest standards of surveillance and custody.”
According to Gabor, “By using SMARTS– the stock market surveillance mechanism of Nasdaq along with the reliable pricing benchmark of MVIS, the main focus is on inspiring confidence with institutions and regulators to get fully involved [ in crypto markets].”
SMART is primarily software that hosts several detection algorithms designed explicitly for picking-up on the suspicious market activities automatically. These activities include wash trading and spoofing.
The technology is called “big policeman engine” by Gurbacs, and he explains that it would make way for an orderly and fair Bitcoin futures trading.
The System
Till date, two Bitcoin futures products are acceptable by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Among these two approved Bitcoin futures products; one is operated by Chicago Mercantile Exchange in partnership with Crypto Facilities while the other one is controlled by Chicago Board Options in coordination with Gemini Exchange.
These are cash-settled futures contracts which means that there is no need to move physical Bitcoins for settling these accounts on their expiration. On the contrary, a fully synchronised Bitcoin futures product to be launched in January next year will be physically settled. This means that the product that is being launched by Bakkt- the Intercontinental Exchange-supported firm will have investors receiving Bitcoins in payment on expiration.