The recent bashing of Bitcoin by J.P.Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon might have contributed to the fall in the price of the cryptocurrency by a significant amount. However, J.P.Morgan has now changed its tune and has ventured into Bitcoin futures trading. This is in stark contrast with the statements of the Dimon who claimed that Bitcoin is nothing more than a scam.
Dimon, however, is of the opinion that even though Bitcoin might be speculative and does not hold any real kind of value, the blockchain technology behind Bitcoin can have various applications when it comes to the banking and financial industry. Therefore, the new development that J.P.Morgan is now considering futures trading for its client is indeed surprising.
The Bitcoin on Tuesday again made a new high of $8250 after the recent high of $ 8000. The cryptocurrency has seen a rise of over 700% this year.
The company did not further clarify on the launching of the futures platform for Bitcoin. However, this is another validation of the cryptocurrency as more institutions provide solutions to their customers. With the J.P.Morgan indulging in futures trading of Bitcoin, other institutions would not be far behind to provide such solutions to their customers as well.
It remains to be seen what kind of impact this has on the rise of Bitcoin. Sure enough, as more and more institutional investors are in for trading in Bitcoins or whether for futures, the value of Bitcoin would increase. This would also provide added credibility to Bitcoin as more and more institutions start recognizing it. However, with 700% appreciation already provided till date in this very year, it remains to be seen how much more it can appreciate. Also, the market cap of Bitcoin currently is pretty huge as well.
With the market cap of Bitcoin rising more and more, the other currencies are also appreciating. The next one to join the list can be Ethereum. However, J.P.Morgan has not disclosed any plans to add more cryptocurrencies.
So, for the larger investors as well as institutions, the Bitcoin futures trading platform provides a unique opportunity to exploit the huge movement in Bitcoin which is propelling it forward. With the help of this platform, indeed investors would be able to gain a unique opportunity to trade in Bitcoin.
Mahesh Sashital is cofounder of Smartereum.
He was previously Vice President at J.P. Morgan. He has over 15 years of experience in software engineering at various Fortune 20 companies. He has a Bachelor's in Engineering from the University of Mumbai and an MBA from the University of Texas-Austin.
