BTSE, a British Virgin Islands-based cryptocurrency exchange, announced on Wednesday the launch of a gold futures contract priced in Bitcoin.
Gold is a popular asset among orthodox investors while the new generation is seeing the value in Bitcoin, and BTSE is becoming the first exchange to directly connecting the two with a derivatives contract.
This will enable the derivatives traders to speculate on the performance of Bitcoin versus gold and predict the future development of the in-demand assets.
Commenting on the new offering, Jonathan Leong, CEO of BTSE, said: “Bitcoin is evolving into a matured store of value. The performance of gold versus Bitcoin fascinates both institutions and retail users, so we are excited to help traders directly trade and speculate on the performance of both assets in comparison with each other by launching a gold index that is priced in BTC.”
The rising demand for alternative assets
The announcement detailed that the exchange’s gold index price is derived from Tether Gold (XAU₮).
Tether Gold was launched last January as the Stablecoin issuer saw a growing demand for the alternative asset. Each token represents ownership of one fine troy ounce of gold and has been issued on both Etheruem and Tron Blockchain .
The futures will be listed alongside other futures contracts of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Monero, alongside major perpetual contracts as well.
According to the exchange, the traders can not only speculate on the market with the gold futures, but also can hedge against inflation.
“The debate of whether gold or Bitcoin is a more reliable store of value is heating up as more institutional investors, central banks, and high net-worth individuals recognize the potential to maximize profits on Bitcoin’s anti-inflationary design,” BTSE noted.
Other than the crypto trading products, BTSE is also expanding its business into other areas and launched a crypto-fiat debit card earlier this year.
