The first bitcoin futures started trading Sunday, sparking a swift run-up in the price of the digital currency as the exchange provider’s website experienced outages from heavy traffic.
Trading of the hotly anticipated U.S. bitcoin futures began at 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Sunday on an exchange run by Cboe Global Markets Inc., while its larger rival CME Group Inc. plans to introduce its own bitcoin futures a week later. XBTF8, +0.00%
Bitcoin contracts expiring in January were trading at $16,030 about 40 minutes after launch, and more than 300 contracts had changed hands, according to data from Cboe Global Markets.
The price of bitcoin itself climbed 8% to $1,5740.25 in the first seven minutes after the contract started trading, though it later dropped to $15,346.00, according to CoinDesk.
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