CBOE Holdings Inc., plans to introduce bitcoin futures in the fourth quarter or early next year.
Futures could draw in professional market makers -- though probably not JPMorgan Chase & Co. traders after Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said he’d fire any employee trading bitcoin for being “stupid” -- to the cryptocurrency realm, providing much-needed liquidity. Such traders need derivatives so they can hedge their positions.
CBOE teamed up in August with Gemini Trust Co. -- the startup created by the Winklevoss twins made famous by the 2010 Facebook film “The Social Network” -- with the plan to offer bitcoin futures.
“Like it or not, people want exposure to bitcoin,” said Ed Tilly, CBOE’s chairman and CEO, said Sept. 12 at a Barclays conference in New York.