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Ripple to Battle Bitcoin’s Dominance in the Futures Market

Bitcoin made major headlines towards the end of last year after it became listed on two futures exchanges, CBOE and CME. This was a major endorsement for not just Bitcoin but the cryptocurrency world and marked a huge step towards crypto’s recognition and acceptance in the mainstream financial industry. The price of Bitcoin subsequently shot up in the following days to record highs, boosted significantly by the very positive news. CBOE’s future exchange website had to be taken offline briefly due to the extremely high traffic that it witnessed from eager cryptocurrency enthusiasts who were overjoyed at the announcement.

Unknown to many, Ripple had already been listed on a futures exchange. Even more surprisingly, it had been quietly trading in a UK futures exchange for over one and a half years before Bitcoin announced the very exciting news. UK startup, Crypto Facilities was the company that partnered with Ripple in 2016 and developed an XRP derivative.

Crypto Facilities is a UK based startup that was founded by industry titans drawn from two of the world’s largest banks, Goldman Sachs and BNB Paribas. The startup operates under the regulation of the Financial Conduct Authority, a UK oversight body that oversees the conduct of over 56,000 financial services firms.

The founder and CEO of Crypto Facilities, Timo Schlaefer, is optimistic that XRP futures adoption may increase significantly in the near future. Speaking to CoinDesk, he expressed his satisfaction with the current performance of the XRP futures in his firm and shared his optimism that XRP could challenge for a spot in the very lucrative futures market that is currently dominated by Bitcoin.

While all the hype and attention has been on Bitcoin’s performance in the CME and CBOE exchanges, XRP futures has been performing quite well. When the two exchanges launched the first Bitcoin futures in December last year, Crypto Facilities’ XRP futures had already hit the ground running and was trading over $14 million monthly. The figure was growing greatly and by end of February this year, it had doubled to over $28 million.

XRP futures will increase in the future as more companies realize the value that XRP represents. Already, Crypto Facilities has struck a deal with CME Group, the Chicago-based futures and derivatives giant to work together. With CME Group having participated in Ripple’s funding round in 2016, many XRP enthusiasts foresee an XRP derivative being a possibility with CME in the near future.


 

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