Brazil’s stock exchange, B3, is preparing to launch bitcoin futures trading on the platform. According to the company, the operation will be launched within six months.
It will be B3’s first product aimed exclusively at crypto assets. Before that, it was already possible to trade digital currencies on the platform through investment funds known as ETFs.
B3’s bitcoin futures may be launched in three to six months, with no set date yet. In other words, crypto assets trading based on this mode could be launched as early as 2022.
Bitcoin on the stock exchange
The news was confirmed by B3’s chief financial officer, André Milanez. He was speaking about the balance sheet for the first quarter of 2022 when he confirmed the platform’s interest in launching bitcoin futures.
As recently as January 2022, B3 had already signaled that it intended to launch financial products focused on crypto assets. At the time, the company’s chief technology officer, Jochen Mielke de Lima, said that bitcoin futures could be offered on the platform this year.
In addition to bitcoin futures, Lima spoke about offering futures of ether, a crypto asset from the Ethereum network. However, the platform has not confirmed the launch of ether futures yet.
B3 is gearing up to dominate the crypto market and can be considered a centralizer for digital currency trading. The platform will have products for the retail investor and provide services aimed at exchanges.
Since April 2021, Brazil’s stock exchange has traded crypto assets through ETFs. However, with the launch of bitcoin futures soon, this will be the first product created by B3 itself focused on digital currencies.
