According to a announcement by LCH SA, the clearing house of LSE, a division will clear bitcoin index options and futures contracts. The contracts, which are subject to regulatory approval and will be part of the newly created segregated clearance service called LCH Digital asset Clear, will come from GF-X.
The GFOX/Coin Metrics Bitcoin Reference rate (GCBRR) is used to calculate the metrics for the bitcoin contracts. LCH SA, the world’s biggest derivatives clearinghouse and the largest firm in the market today, has expanded its presence by launching bitcoin futures.
Frank Soussan is the Head of LCH Digital Asset Clear. He said that institutional investors are increasingly interested in bitcoin index futures and option contracts.
They want to access them within a familiar regulated environment. He said that “offering central clearing for these dollar-denominated cash-settled crypto derivatives contracts is an important market development.”
LCH enters the bitcoin market as BTC has risen 80% from 2022’s last day. On April 7, the onchain analytics provider Glassnode announced that ‘the open interest in bitcoin option contracts ($10.3B), has exceeded that held in futures contract ($10.0B).
Futures OI is relatively flat for 2023. Glassnode explained that this is due to the large number of call options bought by investors who are speculating on higher bitcoin prices.