BitMEX plans to offer futures contracts for DeFi projects Yearn.finance (YFI), Polkadot (DOT), and Binance Coin (BNB).
The Seychelles-based BitMEX exchange said via its blog post on Friday that it plans to launch three new Altcoin/USDT underlying quanto futures contracts. Yearn.finance (YFI) – an Ethereum-based token governing the Yearn.finance platform — will be the first DeFi token to be added and then later Binance Coin (BNB) as well as Polkadot‘s (DOT) native token.
Through the new quanto futures contract, BitMEX traders will comfortably hedge their risk exposure to BNB (Binance Chain’s native coin, which powers the Binance ecosystem). Popularity has been increasing amongst Polkadot developers this year prior to the anticipated launch of PolkaBTC in 2021.
In the post, BitMEX said:
“These three contracts aim to provide our users with quality coverage of highly liquid products.”
By October 30th at 4:00 UTC, trading will begin since, at that time, the exchange would have finished adding all these three altcoins.
Fixed Bitcoin Multiplier Necessary
Ownership of a fixed asset of the token being traded like Tether’s USDT is a requirement for traders under traditionally margined contracts. However, these new BitMEX contracts are unique since traders are able to post margin in Bitcoin (BTC), and any profits or losses made whenever the contract price changes will be informed of Bitcoin.
“As with all quanto products, these contracts have a fixed Bitcoin multiplier regardless of the underlying Altcoin price. This allows traders to long or short each coin without needing to hold the specific coin or USDT. Traders post margin in XBT, and earn or lose XBT as the future’s price changes.” BitMEX said.
BitMEX also disclosed that it might include other more altcoin product listings before the year ends, but it didn’t hint which pairs will be unveiled next. Nevertheless, it stated that it would put much focus on decentralized finance which recent has become a big interest for most crypto investors.
Acceleration of Know Your Customer Mandate
The announcement has emanated only some days after BitMEX has also announced that it will be accelerating its Know Your Customer program. BitMEX gave all platform users up to November 5th, 2020, at 00:00 UTC to be fully verified. Users who would not have completed the KYC requirement and get verified will be unable to open new positions and even withdraw their funds from December 4th, 2020, at 00:00 UTC.
BitMEX’s acceleration of its mandate to verify all its customers’ identities was a response to charges regarding facilitating unregistered trading that the U.S. government leveled against it.
Adjustments in Quanto Futures Contracts
Last month, BitMEX announced the listing of four new Quanto Futures contracts for Chainlink (LINK), Tezos (XTZ), EOS (EOS), and Cardano (ADA). All these altcoins were paired with the Tether (USDT) stablecoin. Additionally, traders do not need to hold USDT or any specific coin to long or short each coin since the new listings have a fixed Bitcoin multiplier just like other Quanto products.
Before the announcement, BitMEX decided to remove six expiring six altcoin futures markets, namely Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Stellar (XLM), NEO (NEO), and Dash (DASH).
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