This article is from cointelegraph.com.br and the original article can be read here in Portuguese
The Brazilian Stock Exchange, B3, is expected to launch a new product in the second half of the year, supported by the main cryptocurrency on the market. It is a futures contract exposed to the Bitcoin (BTC), aimed at small and large investors. The information had already been confirmed in May by the group’s chief financial officer, André Milanez, during an earnings call for the first quarter of 2022, although the B3 representative did not provide further details at the time.
The product will be traded at 10% of the value of Bitcoin, which would represent, at the price of BTC this Monday (13), approximately US$ 2.37 thousand, almost R$ 12 thousand, and should follow rules similar to those of mini-contracts, exchange rates, and index practiced by the institution, according to Valor.
Regarding the index used as a reference for the settlement of the contract, B3 said that it will follow an international reference and promised to disclose the name soon, after signing the contract with the provider.
The exchange also works on defining market makers, in this case the brokers responsible for providing liquidity to contracts, price reference and details of their operations. But the launch still requires the approval of regulatory bodies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM).
The futures contract opens up the possibility for local investors to bet on BTC price trends while hedging their allocated cryptocurrencies on exchanges. A possibility that was offered by Binance in 2021, when it ended up receiving a stop-order from the CVM since the exchange does not have the authorization to offer securities in Brazil.
B3’s new product is seen as an opening of the range of options in the cryptocurrency market, whose exposure is limited by the ETFs (exchange-traded index fund), which are passive funds.
For analysts, the arrival of the Bitcoin futures contract is positive from the point of view of institutional investors as it is a regulated investment. That’s what the financial products director at XP Investimentos, Lucas Amaral, which highlighted market development and education regarding crypto products.
The director of new business at MB, Fabrizio Tota, also defended the relevance of the product to the crypto market with the possible arrival of institutional investors, but considered the lack of physical settlement of the product, in addition to risks, such as leverage and short trading, betting on the asset’s fall basis, reasons why he considered that the product has limitations as an investment option.
B3 also received CVM authorization to launch a digital asset trading company, B3 Digital Assets Serviços Digitais, which must offer services for the purchase and sale of digital assets, verification of the existence and ownership of assets, among other infrastructure services, as reported by the Cointelegraph Brazil.
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