Wall Street can’t ignore bitcoin any longer.
The digital currency, which has surged 569 percent this year, took a big step toward the investing mainstream on Tuesday when CME Group, the operator of the world’s biggest exchange, said it would allow trading of bitcoin futures by the end of the year.
The news sent bitcoin surging by 4.8 percent, or $292.22, to $6,379.70 by early afternoon.
“This is indeed huge news and it’s driven by higher bitcoin adoption rates by both the general public and institutions,” Marc van der Chijs, managing partner at CrossPacific Capital and a bitcoin investor, told The Post.
“With futures in place it will open the flood gates for institutions to come in — they were asking for it,” he added.
The move by CME amounts to the first major Wall Street institution throwing its weight behind bitcoin, which has been derided by skeptics as a fad and a bubble.
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, on Sept. 12 during a quarterly conference call — just as it was breaking through the $5,000 mark.
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein has signaled that he is more open to throwing the resources of his bank behind digital currencies.
“Still thinking about #Bitcoin. No conclusion – not endorsing/rejecting. Know that folks also were skeptical when paper money displaced gold,” Blankfein tweeted on Oct. 3.
Before the financial crisis, Wall Street banks were often on the bleeding edge of financial innovation — creating synthetic securities and exotic derivatives that were used widely, but also accelerated the pace of the 2008 financial crisis.