BitMEX to List Futures for New Crypto Coins for First Time in Over 2 Years

BitMEX said early Friday morning it plans to introduce futures markets for two cryptocurrencies, the first new coins to appear on the exchange in over two years.

• The stalwart cryptocurrency derivatives exchange announced new futures markets for chainlink (LINK) and tezos (XTZ), two cryptocurrencies with triple-digit year-to-date returns, in addition to new contracts for eos (EOS) and cardano (ADA), two coins already traded in futures markets on BitMEX.
• Tezos has traded on BitMEX before, however. Prior to the project’s initial coin offering (ICO) in 2017, XTZ/BTC futures were listed on BitMEX and settled at the sale price of 0.0002 BTC per tezos.
• The last time BitMEX listed a new token was June 2018, when it announced a TRON/BTC futures market.
• Shortly before that announcement, the exchange removed six altcoin futures markets, including ethereum classic (ETC), zcash (ZEC), and monero (XMR).
• Notably, the new altcoin futures will trade against tether (USDT) instead of bitcoin (BTC). In Friday's announcement, BitMEX said the reason for this is because “USDT pairs account for over 60% of overall altcoin volume.” By listing tether pairs, “we are providing users with the trading options to better meet their needs,” BitMEX said.
• More details are to come later Friday, the Seychelles-based exchange said.