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Great news for Bitcoin fans that they will soon be able to trade futures contracts in the cryptocurrency on the CBOE Options Exchange and also on the CME. Trading will start on December 11 and 18, respectively. Goldman Sachs, the global finance market’s second largest investment bank behind JPMorgan, will begin trading bitcoin futures for its clients, once major exchanges list bitcoin futures in the upcoming weeks.

Goldman Sachs is also one of the largest firms helping clients buy and sell futures contracts, will act in an agency capacity and won’t serve as a market-maker or build inventory in the derivatives, said the person, who asked not to be identified talking about the plans. The decision to clear client trades will be made on a case-by-case basis, the person said.

In a statement, Goldman Sachs spokeswoman Tiffany Galvin said:

“Given that this is a new product, as expected we are evaluating the specifications and risk attributes for the bitcoin futures contracts as part of our standard due diligence process.”

The Wall Street Journal reported Goldman's decision earlier on Thursday, adding that Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, and the Royal Bank of Canada are telling customers that they won't have access when futures trading goes live.

Bitcoin has had a wild year, culminating in its biggest thousand-dollar moves ever this week, going by round numbers. It gained over $4,000 over the past two days, and rose above $16,000 per dollar on Thursday.

Goldman Sachs CEO View On Bitcoin

  Lloyd Blankfein, the Goldman Sachs chairman and CEO since 2006, said “if bitcoin works, we’ll get to it.” Last month, in an interview with Kayla Tausche from CNBC, Blankfein noted that he is open minded towards bitcoin, because many assets and technologies he viewed as “stupid and wrong” turned out to perform and work well. Blankfein stated:

I have an open mind about these things [bitcoin and cryptocurrencies] because there are a lot of things that work really really well today that I thought was stupid and wrong. I have a much more open mind about this and I know a lot of history of finance and I pointed out that there was a time wherein people only took gold coins.

More importantly, Blankfein emphasized that the abrupt shift from the gold standard to the fiat currency system was rejected and failed to be adopted in the beginning. If bitcoin is a natural progression from hard money to digital money, Blankfein explained that bitcoin holds the potential to become the next gold and reserve currency of the world.

CBOE’s Bitcoin Futures Launch on December 11

  The bitcoin futures exchange of the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), is set to launch on December 10, merely two days from today. Large-scale investment banks and hedge funds such as Goldman Sachs and Man Group plan to invest in the cryptocurrency upon the launch of CBOE and CME’s bitcoin futures exchanges, given that those two markets are expected to significantly increase the liquidity of bitcoin.

With Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan optimistic in regards to the growth of bitcoin as the new gold and robust store of value, other major banks and financial institutions will inevitably follow.

How Bitcoin Future Is Better than Bitcoin

  The creators of Bitcoin invented Blockchain, an exciting technology that may have many other uses. For that, these inventors should be commended.

However, they aren't experts in creating markets. CME and CBOE both have long histories in creating successful venues for the buying and selling of futures contracts. The launch of these trading venues will enhance price discovery. That means any new information about Bitcoin will quickly be reflected in the price of the contracts. That will likely be far better than the price discovery on the existing Bitcoin exchanges.

The contracts will be settled each trading day using a transparent reference price. That reference price may not be perfect, but it will soon get written into contracts that involve Bitcoin being paid or received as happens in other markets. For instance, jewelry makers and retailers often use reference prices for gold in their contracts. In short, having a transparent settlement price will simplify the matter of using Bitcoin as a method of payment.

Futures contracts don't go missing. You might lose money, but you won't misplace the contract. I hear from many people they  bought a small chunk of Bitcoin and then found that it had disappeared. That is unlikely to happen when trading futures.

  Photo Credit 

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Einsteinium is essentially a Litecoin clone with modified block distribution parameters and has been trading on major exchanges since early 2014. Along with many altcoins, it began picking up volume and price in the last few months.

  Lets take a look on EMC2 price rally anticipating " Mind Blowing Announcement "

  EMC2-Price

Einsteinium’s price has rocketed this week, currently up 108% after news of a hard fork to cut its circulating supply has driven trading volumes well over $369,959,000. The price now sits at an impressive $2.68 after a year-long slump had seen its price fail to break past $0.14.

EMC2-Price-rise

News was released on October 22nd confirming the announcement that the hard fork would continue as planned, aiming to remove over 50 million coins from the current circulating supply. 

  How this is important for Einsteinium?

  FORK will occur on block 1699157. 

Burn:  After the FORK, approximately 55 Million coins will be burned from the future supply. There will be half a million coins less per month added to the circulating supply.

By this we understand that when something intends to remove nearly 25% of its current supply, the price of the remaining 75% will certainly rise.

This will be not only a promising announcement for those that have been hodl-ing the coin since its arrival on the market 3 years ago, but also a big incentive for short-term investors looking to turn a quick profit, especially with Bitcoin’s current price growing exponentially.

Why you should HODL Einsteinium for the future?

  The recent news of the hard fork was not the only thing to raise awareness for the alt coin. A recent Twitter post announced a huge development was soon to be released – with rumours circulating of a potential buyout from the global tech giant, Apple.

  EMC2 mind-blowing announcement to be made on December 19th @einsteiniumcoin http://pic.twitter.com/RDGegNk9zH

— Einsteinium (@einsteiniumcoin) November 30, 2017

However, a follow up Tweet clarified that the announcement will not be about Apple for now.

Even though it is not excluded that we might work with Apple in the future, the big news is not about the contract at this time. It is something more important for Einsteinium @einsteiniumcoin

— Einsteinium (@einsteiniumcoin) December 4, 2017

Almost all exchanges supporting this fork including Bittrex , Poloniex , Coinomi ,Upbit, Cryptopia and others.

It’s probably safe to say Einsteinium still has a long way to go, but with so much speculation surrounding it at the current time, it can only carry on climbing in the days to come.

  Photo Credit 1 , 2 & 3

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JP Morgan Says Bitcoin May Become The 'New Gold'

  JP Morgan says Bitcoin may become the 'New Gold', its a long-term way to store wealth, as the cryptocurrency turning into more traditional asset class. Bitcoin now trades at more than $12,000 and both Cboe Global Markets and the CME Group plan to start offering bitcoin futures this month.

Earlier this month the powerful Wall Street boss said he would fire anyone trading bitcoin, calling it “stupid” and warning that the cryptocurrency “will blow up”. He called the currency “a fraud” which is “worse than tulip bulbs” - a reference to an infamous bubble in the 17th century.

He is a long-time sceptic of the digital currency, arguing in 2015 that it would never go mainstream:  "It's just not going to happen. You are wasting your time," Mr Dimon said at the time.

This move to join more formal financial markets “has the potential to elevate cryptocurrencies to an emerging asset class,” according to JP Morgan analyst Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou.

Panigirtzoglou said:

“The prospective launch of Bitcoin futures contracts by established exchanges, in particular, has the potential to add legitimacy and thus increase the appeal of the cryptocurrency market to both retail and institutional investors.”

Gold or Bitcoin

Bitcoin has not overtaken gold in terms of investment levels, total value in circulation or transaction volumes. But it has grown rapidly and could make more progress to match or even surpass the use of gold.

The total value of all Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies is now more than $300billion, Mr Panigirtzoglou said, compared to $1.5 trillion for all of the gold outside central banks’ vaults.

However, the cryptocurrencies are more valuable than the $90billion of gold held via exchange traded funds (ETFs), which indicates the scale of growth of Bitcoin and Ethereum, the second-largest such cryptocurrency.

Last month bitcoin trading volumes hit $140billion and ethereum rose to $30billion, compared with an average of almost $900billion per month in gold trading.

Relief for Banks

  Banks were nervous of Bitcoin as a currency and how it could liberate people from the clutches of the government-backed fiat, however, that fight has died down somewhat as the future is now aimed at accumulating the valuable asset.

Apple founder Steve Wozniak, also have similar opinion as James Dimon about Bitcoin. He said :

“There is a certain finite amount of bitcoin that can ever exist. Gold gets mined and mined and mined. Maybe there’s a finite amount of gold in the world, but Bitcoin is even more mathematical and regulated and nobody can change mathematics.”

Instead of a flying in the face of the institutionalized banking system, Bitcoin looks like it has outgrown its angsty teen stages.

  Photo Credit 1 & 2

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US Senate Bill : A Threat To Bitcoin

  US Senate Bill 1241 also known as “Combating Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing, and Counterfeiting Act of 2017" was discussed on November 28th. Along with fellow Senators Dianne Feinstein, John Cornyn and Sheldon Whitehouse, the bill aimed at modernizing and strengthening criminal laws against money laundering which is a potent source of funding for terrorist organizations, drug cartels and other organized crime syndicates.

Moreover, US Bill S.1241 also aimed at deterring individuals entering the United States borders from bringing with them undeclared assets in the form of Bitcoin or other digital currencies.

How this law will be effecting Digital currency Globally ?

It would allow for civil asset forfeitures of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and require users to declare cryptocurrency assets exceeding $10,000 whenever they cross the US border.

The bill also would amend the definition of ‘financial account’ and ‘financial institution’ to include digital currencies and digital exchanges, respectively. According to ranking committee member Senator Dianne Feinstein, the proposed bill is needed to modernize existing AML laws.

All of this under the farcically broad umbrella of fighting terrorism.

According to Section 53412(a) of title 31, United States Code ‘financial institution', includes:

“An issuer, redeemer, or cashier of prepaid access devices, digital currency, or any digital exchanger or tumbler of digital currency.”

If passed, the bill would likely have far-reaching effects for users of digital currencies both in the US and abroad.

Other Opinions from Industry

  Several industry commentators have submitted their opinions on the proposed law. In his testimony during the hearing, John A. Cassara claimed that the issue of virtual currencies is interesting:

“Senator, I’m just glad I had my career when I did because I don’t know what I’d do trying to follow the money when it comes to digital currencies, it’s extremely, extremely challenging…I think if you look at the metrics, the metrics suggest today [that] digital currencies are a small fraction of the threat that we face. That’s not to say it’s gonna be the case in 5-10 years from now. We’re right at a crossroads, and it’s going to be very, very interesting to see what goes forward.”

Tone Vays claimed that he expects a confrontation between the Bitcoin team, including the holders and users, and the US government.

“It’s bad…I think it’s gonna end in a very confrontational way between Bitcoin—even Bitcoin holders and users—and the US Government.”

Interestingly enough, Ms. Kathryn Haun Rodriguez, a Coinbase Board of Directors Member, made absolutely no mention of digital currencies or digital exchanges in her testimony; nor was she asked any questions pertaining to these topics.

In her July 2017 written testimony to the US House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services and Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Finance, she stated that some users of digital currencies use them “to conceal and move illicit proceeds because of the perception that virtual currency is untraceable.”

Also in her prior written testimony, she stated that “the FinTech industry could be a very helpful partner to the government in addressing national security concerns;” that “investigators like digital footprints and that is exactly what digital currencies provide;” and that “of course, we can only follow the money to an individual or group if they used a Regulated exchange, one that follows basic AML/KYC laws.”

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