A token of the virtual currency Bitcoin is seen placed on a monitor that displays binary digits in this illustration picture, December 8, 2017. Picture taken December 8. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration (This version of the March 14 story corrects second paragraph to say the new trading platform is based in the British Virgin Islands, not London, where the company and its spot exchange are based) By John McCrank BOCA RATON, Fla. (Reuters) - Cryptocurrency exchange operator Coinfloor said on Wednesday it will launch a futures exchange for digital assets that will include the first physically delivered bitcoin futures contracts next month. The new British Virgin Islands-based trading platform, known as CoinfloorEX, is aimed at hedge funds, proprietary trading firms and sophisticated retail investors, as well as cryptocurrency miners, Mark Lamb, co-founder of Coinfloor, said in an interview. “When you talk to the liquidity providers, they all say the same thing, which is they want a physically delivered futures contract so they can hedge their exposure across exchanges,” he said on the sidelines of the Futures Industry Association’s annual conference in Boca Raton, Florida. Some traditional futures exchanges, including those run by Cboe Global Markets Inc and CME Group Inc, already offer bitcoin futures. But they are cash settled, meaning the actual cryptocurrency does not change hands. Many proprietary trading firms and large investors have voiced concerns that the cash-settled process can be manipulated too easily, as bad actors can attempt to move the price of the indexes or auctions on spot exchanges that set the futures prices in their favor, Lamb said. The first physically delivered contract launches in April. Coinfloor, which includes the closely held Chicago-based proprietary trading firm DRW among its investors, was started in 2013 and runs the largest UK-based cryptocurrency spot exchange in London and another spot exchange Gibraltar. Reporting by John McCrank in Boca Raton, Florida; Editing by Dan Grebler
London-based cryptocurrency exchange firm Coinfloor is launching a digital trading futures exchange that will include the first physically delivered bitcoin futures contracts. The launch of the new platform comes as Bitfinex has been under fire for its decision to halt all withdrawals from accounts held by customers in China and South Korea Some traditional exchanges already offer trading in bitcoin futures, but the deals are still settled in cash and the cryptocurrency does not change hands. Coinfloor co-founder Mark Lamb said many investors were concerned that cash-settled dealing can be manipulated too easily. Coinfloor was founded in 2013, and runs a second exchange in Gibraltar.