Bitcoin Pares Gains as CME Dashes Hopes of Bitcoin Futures Contract
Investing.com – Bitcoin prices were roughly unchanged on Thursday, as CME group, the world’s largest futures exchanged, dashed investor hopes that the group would introduce a futures contract for the popular digital currency.
On the U.S.-based Bitfinex exchange, bitcoin fell to $4,179.0, down $11.3, or 0.27%, as the popular digital currency bolstered its market cap to nearly $70bn.
“I really don’t see us going forward with a futures contract in the very near future,” he said. “However, the straight through processing and capabilities associated with digitization technologies is an area of interest for us.” Said Bryan Durkin, president of the CME group.
Bitcoin prices consolidated a day after hitting a two-week high following comments from both Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Chief Executive Officer James Gorman and European Central Bank president Mario Draghi.
Gorman admitted that while he hasn’t invested in Bitcoin it is “certainly something more than just a fad”, adding that the underlying software supporting Bitcoin – Blockchain – is “interesting for the privacy protections it gives people”.
The Morgan Stanley chief did wonder, however, whether regulators would strengthen efforts to crackdown on bitcoin related activity to curb the digital currency use among fraudsters.
China, so far, has been one of the more aggressive nations clamping down Bitcoin related activity after it ordered domestic Bitcoin exchanges to cease trading by the October’s end, sending shockwaves through the cryptocurrency industry.
Draghi allayed fears, however, that other regulators could step up efforts to curb bitcoin-related activity, admitting that the European Central Bank did not have the authority to regulate cryptocurrencies.
Other cryptocurrencies followed Bitcoin’s move lower as Ethereum fell 2.68% to $301.68, Ripple lost 3.33% to $0.20300 while Bitcoin Cash fell 0.57% to $462.13.
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