With the landing on Sunday night of four futures on the Chicago mercantile exchange (Cme), the derivative contracts linked to Bitcoins and listed on regulated markets - after the three expiries on the Cboe, the Chicago option exchange, on December 11th - they reach seven. The debate around cryptocurrencies is therefore getting hotter, and Europe, with France at the forefront, it is clamoring for regulation which now seems increasingly necessary. France has proposed to bring the Bitcoin issue to the table at the next G20, scheduled for next April in Argentina.
There are not only economic-financial concerns. In fact, the risks are also linked to security, with cryptocurrency which, being difficult to control, can be an instrument for financing international terrorism and, more generally, money laundering resulting from more or less serious criminal activities. A kind of mega washing machine capable of cleaning the world's dirty money. “Bitcoin could be a formidable tool for terrorists and criminals around the world”, President Macron said.
Meanwhile, the debate is also centered on the differences between the Cboe and Cme market. According to some investors, CME bitcoin futures could attract greater demand from institutional investors because the final price is determined by tapping into a number of exchanges, while that of the Cboe futures is linked only to that fixed by the Gemini exchange, controlled and managed by twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, famous for disputes with Facebook.
