PANews reported on March 24 that according to Theblock, Bernstein analysts said that as exchanges and broker/dealer models begin to merge, the crypto industry is moving towards a more integrated "one-stop" multi-asset investment platform. Coinbase is in in-depth negotiations to acquire Deribit, Kraken is about to acquire NinjaTrader, and Robinhood is integrating Bitstamp.
“With the regulatory environment easing, crypto exchanges and broker/dealers are seeing strong M&A activity,” analysts led by Gautam Chhugani wrote in a note to clients, as traditional brokers seek to offer crypto tokens and cryptocurrency exchanges plan to integrate traditional equity and derivatives products.
Analysts believe that the U.S. crypto derivatives market has huge growth potential because offshore markets such as perpetual futures are three to four times larger than spot markets. They said that last year, Bitcoin and Ethereum futures trading outside the United States was $31 trillion, while the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in the United States trades about $2.5 trillion a year.
Meanwhile, the U.S. crypto options market is still in its early stages and is largely limited to Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s Bitcoin futures options. However, as the U.S. SEC and CFTC increase their support for crypto, analysts expect the domestic spot and derivative crypto product market to expand. They note that this could lead to crypto platforms offering traditional assets and vice versa, allowing broker platforms to offer a wider range of assets.
