Bitcoin soared above $12,000 for the first time Wednesday, lifting the whole market. Experts believe more institutional money will flow into bitcoin as several derivatives exchanges prepare to introduce futures contracts for the digital currency.
Futures contracts enable traders to agree to buy or sell an asset at a predetermined price at a later date. This allows for price movement speculation and hedging, something which proponents believe will reduce volatility in bitcoin, a notably volatile asset.
Another digital currency, IOTA, was also seeing an upward trend in the cryptocurrency market. IOTA hit $5 for the first time Wednesday, having climbed more than 90 percent in the last 24 hours, and replaced Ripple’s XRP as the world’s fourth-largest cryptocurrency. IOTA began rallying earlier this week following a partnership announcement between its blockchain network and big tech firms including Microsoft and Samsung.
