Bitcoin Futures—What use are they?

Early analysis of Bitcoin concluded that it did not meet the economic conditions to be classified as a currency. Since this conclusion, interest in Bitcoin has increased substantially. We investigate whether the introduction of futures trading in Bitcoin is able to resolve the issues that stopped Bi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Economics letters 2018-11, Vol.172, p.23-27
Main Authors: Corbet, Shaen, Lucey, Brian, Peat, Maurice, Vigne, Samuel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bitcoin
Cryptocurrencies
Currencies
Currency
Digital currencies
Discovery
Economic conditions
Futures
Futures markets
Futures trading
Hedging
Investors
Money
Speculative assets
Trading
Volatility
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Summary:Early analysis of Bitcoin concluded that it did not meet the economic conditions to be classified as a currency. Since this conclusion, interest in Bitcoin has increased substantially. We investigate whether the introduction of futures trading in Bitcoin is able to resolve the issues that stopped Bitcoin from being considered a currency. Our analysis shows that spot volatility has increased following the appearance of futures contracts, that futures contracts are not an effective hedging instrument, and that price discovery is driven by uninformed investors in the spot market. We therefore argue that the conclusion that Bitcoin is a speculative asset rather than a currency is not altered by the introduction of futures trading. •This article investigates the effect of the introduction of Bitcoin futures.•The introduction of Bitcoin futures has increased the spot volatility of Bitcoin.•Bitcoin futures are not an effective hedging tool.•Price discovery is driven by uninformed investors in the spot market.•Bitcoin futures did not affect the nature of Bitcoin as a speculative asset rather than a currency.
ISSN:0165-1765
1873-7374
DOI:10.1016/j.econlet.2018.07.031