Bitfinex launches cryptocurrency options in the first quarter of 2020

The Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex has plans to launch options in the first quarter of 2020 and issue its gold-backed stablecoin Tether Gold, according to the chief technical officer of Bitfinex and Tether Paolo Ardoino.  

This summer Bitfinex launched cryptocurrency derivatives which were rather costly, Ardoino confessed in the recent interview with The Block.

" That was a big project. It each require a few months of full-time development," he said. 

Currently, apart from the options, the team is working on legal compliant basket futures and well, basket perpetual swaps

"I see that some other competitor is now rolling out tighter based perpetual swaps and futures market. That is a really big weakness for us because it gives more trust, more and more spread to tether, even farther. And these are. So our goal is to launch options in Q1 2020," he added.

Ardoino believes that using Tether as a base instrument for derivative products will increase trust and make it more liquid.

Also, Bitfinex wants to issue gift cards. They can be bought with digital assets and exchanged for goods and services in real life. The company has chosen a big and well-known partner for this project. Ardoino wants people to see that cryptocurrencies have use cases apart from an exchange between BTC and USD.