Europe is set for first Bitcoin futures launch as U.S. regulators continue to drag their feet

Europe will have its first Bitcoin futures contract traded on the Eurex, which is the continent's largest derivatives market, on Sept 13, 2021. Europe's first Bitcoin futures is based on ETC Group's BTCetc-ETC Group Physical Bitcoin (BTCE). BTCE is an exchange traded cryptocurrency that aims to track the price of Bitcoin (BTC-USD). Per the fact sheet, the ETC is 100% physically backed by Bitcoin and trades on Deutsche Börse's XETRA and SIX Swiss Exchange. Bradley Duke, CEO of ETC Group, stated: "We see the selection of BTCE by Europe's largest derivatives exchange as recognition of the quality of the product and its world beating liquidity. Also, because BTCE is fully-fungible with the underlying bitcoin, it means physical settlement of the futures contract is enabled through BTCE's standard creation/redemption mechanism." Randolf Roth, Member of the Eurex Executive Board, mentioned: "Given the growing institutional demand for secure exposure to Bitcoin, we are