High demand for Bitcoin June 2024 futures and options on Deribit due to halving.

Bitcoin’s fourth mining reward halving is scheduled for April next year. This is a programmed code that reduces the pace of supply expansion by 50% every four years. Preparations for the event have already begun, with investors seeking bitcoin futures and options that expire two months after the halving. These contracts are known to significantly impact the cryptocurrency’s price. Deribit, the world’s largest crypto options exchange, has decided to list the June 2024 expiry futures and options a week earlier than planned to cater to user demand. Deribit’s Chief Commercial Officer, Luuk Strijers, explained that clients have requested the early listing to facilitate trading of these contracts ahead of the regular listing date. Futures and options are financial derivative contracts that obligate parties to buy or sell an asset at a predetermined future date and price. They are mainly used to hedge or reduce risk exposure. Bitcoin’s impending halving will reduce the per-block reward paid to miners from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. The cryptocurrency has historically rallied in the months leading up to the halving event and seen price pullbacks following it. The next 12 months could see plenty of directional volatility, especially as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to decide on BlackRock’s spot-based BTC ETF application early next year. This article was edited by Parikshit Mishra.