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Nasdaq just confirmed that it will list Bitcoin futures. According to Joseph Christinat, vice president of communications of Nasdaq, Bitcoin futures should launch during the first half of 2019. This would bring mass exposure of Bitcoin to a variety of investors, from financial institutions to hedge funds and even average retail investors with brokerage accounts.
As reported by the Daily Express, Christinat stated,
“Bitcoin futures will be listed and it should launch in the first half of next year. We’re just waiting for the go ahead from the CFTC but there’s been enough work put into this to make that academic.” 
“We’ve seen plenty of speculation and rumors about what we might be doing, but no one has thought to come to us and ask if we can confirm it, so, here you go – we’re doing this, and it’s happening.”
What are Futures?
Futures are leveraged trading instruments. These derivatives allow ways to diversify portfolios. Commodities, treasury bonds, stocks, and national currencies are the types of investments tied to futures. Futures are a way to profit from short-term price movements of securities, currencies, or commodities without actually having to own the underlying asset.
Examples: Dow Jones Industrial Average, copper, coffee, natural gas, gold futures, and the U.S. Dollar Index are some popular futures, just to name a few.
Overview
The upcoming launch of Bitcoin futures is a giant step towards mainstream Bitcoin adoption. Aside from Bitcoin futures, we recently saw the world’s first crypto ETP under the ticker symbol HODL launch on the SIX Swiss Exchange. An ETP (exchange-traded product) is a security quite similar to an ETF (exchange-traded fund). The Amun Crypto Basket Index (HODL) has nearly half of its assets invested in Bitcoin (BTC), and the remaining half is allocated among XRP (XRP), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC).
Bitcoin is also seeing adoption in the retail space with the recent launch of the Bitplaza app on iTunes and Google Play. The Bitplaza app allows anyone around the world to spend Bitcoin on everyday items. Sony CSL also recently announced that they developed cryptocurrency hardware wallet technology which they plan to commercialize. Sony CSL is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation (NYSE: SNE).
Despite the recent price decline in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, the industry itself is continuing to grow with major developments around every corner as new companies embrace Bitcoin and blockchain technology.
