Bitcoin futures cause panic among Wall Street bigwigs, Interactive Brokers chairman begs CFTC to separate cryptocurrency futures

Some big names on Wall Street do not seem happy about the possible listing of Bitcoin futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) before Christmas this year. They have expressed their concerns and issued serious warnings about Bitcoin, indicating that this type of futures is not popular among their speculative party.

Wall Street tycoons beg regulators to separate cryptocurrencies

“The letter is to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to request that any clearing organization seeking to clear cryptocurrencies or related derivatives use a separate clearing system from other products,” said Thomas Peterffy, chairman of Interactive Brokers (IB).

Interactive Brokers is one of the main providers of derivatives and economic settlement services on Wall Street. It is reported that this open letter was published in the traditional industry bible "The Wall Street Journal" on November 14, 2017.

According to widespread reports, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group is expected to launch Bitcoin futures by the end of December this year. This news is undoubtedly positive in the eyes of Bitcoin enthusiasts, however, traditional industry professionals are obviously not very excited about such a financial futures.

The letter, directed at CFTC Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo, said the fate of capital markets was at stake. Mr. Peterffy urged the regulator to isolate bitcoin futures rather than risk letting them destabilize the real economy.

It is reported that the CFTC is the regulator of derivatives and futures, so ultimately cryptocurrency futures also fall under the jurisdiction of this regulator.

Cryptocurrency is not mature enough

The open letter goes on to say that if CME cleared cryptocurrencies in the same way as other products, then all other losers in the same settlement pool would pay the winners.

“Cryptocurrencies do not have mature, regulated, and tested underlying markets,” Mr. Peterffy continued. “These products and the markets they exist in are less than a decade old and have no relationship to any economic environment or entity in the world.”

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