Like Coinbase and Bitcoin Revolution in their early years, even BitMEX has been very slow to include services with the crypto assets and pairs it is willing to support. The company has successfully stuck to its first offerings - the Bitcoin perpetual futures contract - and this is why the transition to new assets to list has been slow.
But all this is now changing. For the first time since the Ethereum listing, BitMEX has decided to add new trading pairs. The exchange appears to listen to the community, listing several currencies promoted by many in the crypto sector.
BitMEX adds the four main altcoins: Chainlink, Cardano, EOS and Tezos
According to a Sept. 4 announcement, the leading crypto derivatives platform will publish new "quantum futures contract Altcoin / USDT," a type of derivative in which the underlying asset is denominated in a currency, but the instrument itself is settled in a other currency at a certain rate.
Such products are attractive to speculators and investors who wish to have exposure to a certain asset without the corresponding currency risk. “All quantum products have a fixed Bitcoin multiplier independent of the underlying Altcoin price.
This allows traders to bet on a currency without having to own the specific currency or USDT. Traders post margin in XBT and gain or lose XBT as the price of the future changes.
These contracts combine the quantum feature of our perpetual swap products with the expiration and settlement found in traditional futures. As with any BitMEX Altcoin futures, they expire quarterly ”.
The four contracts will be for EOS, Chainlink, Tezos and Cardano, four major cryptocurrencies in the top 15 by market capitalization. BitMEX is adding these pairs as it intends to provide users with the trading products they want.
"LINK will be the first DeFi-related contract available on the BitMEX platform and, together with XTZ, will represent a further step in our goal of providing our users with the best coverage of high quality, liquid products."
The company presumably intends to add more altcoin contracts in the future. It is important to note that Arthur Hayes, CEO of the exchange, has increased his personal exposure to altcoins in the past few weeks and months with the take-off of DeFi.
KYC implementation
This latest BitMEX news comes shortly after the exchange revealed it will move forward with applying KYC procedures for all clients on the platform. The company revealed on Aug. 14 that all clients will need to submit ID within the next six months to enable the exchange to "create a more reliable and secure trading environment for all BitMEX users."
Many do not think this will negatively affect the reach of the platform as it has been reported that most of the high volume traders are already "KYC approved".
