According to a report from Bloomberg, blockchain analytics firm Arcam Intelligence plans to launch a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange as early as next month.
The exchange will target individual traders and compete with existing platforms such as Binance, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Arkham is reportedly already in the process of obtaining a license in the Dominican Republic and plans to operate an exchange there.
The cryptocurrency derivatives market is experiencing explosive growth, driven primarily by the trading activity of retail investors.
Trading volume in cryptocurrency derivatives exceeded $3 trillion in September, up from about $1.5 trillion a year ago, according to a report by CCData.
Adoption is being driven by the proliferation of cryptocurrency derivatives products, including on established exchanges such as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).
On September 29th, CME’s Bitcoin Friday Futures (BFF) debuted in what the derivatives exchange called “the most successful crypto futures launch ever.”
According to CME, these contracts contributed to record first-day trading volume among crypto futures products, with over 31,498 contracts traded over the two-contract week.
BFF is only 1/50th the size of Bitcoin BTCUSD. This is a similar product to Coinbase’s “nano” Bitcoin futures, which are sold in increments of 1/100th of 1 BTC.
On October 8, Crypto.com’s North American derivatives exchange Nadex listed derivative contracts related to meme coins such as Pepe PEPEUSD and Floki Inu (FLOKI).
The company also listed derivative products related to Degeron Mars (ELON) and BONK, according to an Oct. 7 filing with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
BTC exchange-traded fund (ETF) options are likely to launch in the U.S. by the first quarter of 2025, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seifert.
Arkham is best known for providing popular tools for tracking blockchain transactions and identifying entities associated with various cryptocurrency wallet addresses.
It has raised $12 million from investors including Sam Altman, founder of ChatGPT maker OpenAI.
According to CoinGecko, Arkham’s token ARKM is up more than 16% following the Bloomberg report.
