Genesis Global Capital, a part of Genesis, a digital asset industry participant and provider of digital currency prime brokerage services, this week announced it has executed the first-ever OTC block trade of a BTIC (Basis Trade at Index Close) transaction on CME Bitcoin futures with Akuna Capital, an options market maker specializing in derivatives market-making and sophisticated modeling.
A commonly used equities product, BTIC has now been made available for cryptocurrencies. The execution of this trade demonstrates new ways traditional finance participants and markets are adapting to meet the demand for crypto products and services.
“BTIC fills a hedging need for our counterparties who are benchmarked to the Bitcoin Reference Rate and we are proud to be the first firm to trade this pioneering product,” said Joshua Lim, head of Derivatives at Genesis. “Genesis is committed to offering the most innovative products to our trading partners as the market matures.”
“This is the first time we’re offering BTIC for our cryptocurrency futures and we’re pleased Genesis is able to support and provide liquidity for BTIC on day one,” said Tim McCourt, CME Group global head of Equity Index & Alternative Investment Products. “This is another example of how we’re providing innovative solutions to clients who want to gain exposure to CME Bitcoin and Ether futures. BTIC enables market participants to more efficiently trade the basis while providing a regulated marketplace for real-time price discovery and enhanced trading precision for institutional participants who want to optimize holdings between the futures and spot markets.”
Genesis is a liquidity provider for CME Group for Bitcoin futures, Bitcoin options, Micro Bitcoin futures and Ether futures. In the second quarter of 2021, it reported the Genesis counterparty base grew by 15 per cent, including the addition of large institutional investors looking to enter the crypto derivatives market for the first time. During Q2 2021, Genesis traded $29 billion of spot volume, a year-over-year increase of 487 per cent, and $8.5 billion of derivatives volume.
“As one of the first firms to trade Bitcoin futures at CME Group, Akuna is excited to execute the first BTIC trade on CME Bitcoin futures with Genesis,” added Trevor Bernard, head of Digital Liquidity at Akuna Capital. “Akuna welcomes another avenue for the developing Bitcoin market to manage risk and express a view.”
