Crypto investments: Coinbase wants to make hedging easier

Zurich It is numbers that are causing growth euphoria in the crypto scene: According to industry estimates, not even one percent of globally managed assets are in crypto currencies such as Bitcoin or Ether.

According to Guillaume Chatain, who is responsible for business with professional investors in Europe at the Coinbase trading platform, this proportion could be significantly increased. Provided there were enough opportunities to hedge against price losses.

“The volatility of the market means that many institutional customers have not yet invested,” says Chatain in an interview with the Handelsblatt. The volatility itself is not the problem, but that derivatives on cryptocurrencies that professional investors can use to protect themselves against price falls are rare.

As a result, Coinbase, one of the largest crypto trading platforms, recently acquired derivatives exchange FairX. So far, FairX has launched futures contracts for crude oil, among other things.