Bitcoin Futures Helped Market Reach ‘Sustainable Level’: CFTC Chief

When derivatives exchanges CBOE and CME launched the first regulated U.S. bitcoin futures contracts, many cryptocurrency bulls thought that this event would lead to a wave of institutional investment and propel the market toward even greater highs.

Just days later, the yearlong bitcoin price rally stalled, and the flagship cryptocurrency — followed soon after by the wider market — entered a decline that has continued throughout 2018.

According to researchers at the San Francisco branch of the Federal Reserve, the bitcoin futures launch triggered the decline, as it provided institutional investors with their first real opportunity to short the bitcoin price.

Alluding to this research in an interview with Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo, CFTC Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo credited the futures launch — and the CFTC’s “do no harm” strategy in allowing those products to begin trading in the face of criticism — with helping pop the bitcoin price…