Federally regulated exchange and clearinghouse, Ledgerx, is now live. Within its first week of a soft launch testing period, it has already traded over $1 million in bitcoin swaps and options.
Also read: CFTC Approves First Regulated Bitcoin Derivatives Exchange and Clearinghouse
Ledgerx is Live!
Bitcoin derivatives trading platform and clearinghouse, Ledgerx, announced on Friday that it has completed over $1 million bitcoin derivatives trades within one week of its soft launch. Trading on its platform began on October 16. The platform offers the trading and clearing of physically-settled put and call options and day-ahead swaps.
CEO Paul Chou wrote, “institutions who have gone through our rigorous on boarding process over the last few months have had the opportunity to trade this week in what we called internally, a ‘soft launch.’” The company did not announce its launch and was hoping for a “quiet first week with minimal volumes to test the pipes,” he noted, adding that:
We ended up completing swaps and options trades worth over $1,000,000 USD. Crucially, these trades were cleared through Ledgerx, which is the only institutional grade, US federally regulated exchange and clearing house for digital currencies. And we are literally just getting started.
First Federally Regulated Platform
In July, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) approved the platform as a Swap Execution Facilities (SEF) and as a Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO).
“Ledgerx is the first federally regulated exchange and clearing house to list and clear fully-collateralized, physically-settled bitcoin swaps and options for the institutional market,” its website details. Chou further described:
This is the first platform of its kind where you have a unified way to buy and sell BTC via swaps, and monetize the volatility with options.
Chou told CNBC in July that Ledgerx planned to launch bitcoin options in the early fall and then ether options “within a few months.” He also told Reuters that initially, the platform would list one-to-six month options contracts for bitcoin, and other digital currency contracts are expected to follow.
“We are seeing strong demand from institutions that previously could not participate in the bitcoin market due to compliance restrictions against unregulated venues,” Chou noted. “In particular, there is a desire for fund managers to hold financial instruments that are not correlated with the broader equity market, and digital currencies meet that need.”
What do you think of Ledgerx trading over $1 million in bitcoin derivatives in its first week? Do you think it will gain more popularity? Let us know in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Ledgerx, and CFTC.
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