Historically, cryptocurrency markets have been dominated by unregulated trading venues and retail investor activity. Still, this year shows how much market structure and participation has evolved and become institutionalized, Goldman Sachs (GS) said in a report last week. The crypto market saw a growth of regulated, centrally cleared derivatives venues in 2023, including Coinbase Derivatives, CBOE, Eurex, GFO-X, AsiaNext and 24 Exchange, the bank observed. “The institutionalization of the market was most evident in the derivatives market,” the report said, adding that “CME saw a consistent increase in bitcoin and ether futures and options trading, and in Q4 has become the top BTC futures exchange by open interest.”
