NYSE Parent Company May Be Launching a Bitcoin Investment Platform

Bitcoin spent the better part of a decade on the fringes of the financial system.

While markets recovered from the 2008 financial crisis, Bitcoin was slowly building a following and collecting attention.

J.P. Morgan Chase CEO, Jamie Dimon famously described Bitcoin as a fraud, and, even though he has retreated from those comments, they are illustrative of the hostile nature between mainstream financial institutions and the cryptocurrencies.

Interestingly, more than a year into an extraordinary rise in popularity and value, Bitcoin is proving irresistible to the financial elites.

On Monday, The New York Times reported that Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the New York Stock Exchange, is developing a digital trading platform for Bitcoin.

Although there are few details about the initiative, it's expected to give wealthy investors access to Bitcoin without using one of the many, unregulated cryptocurrency exchanges.

New York Times writer, Nathaniel Popper, who authored the article, took to Twitter to explain that the Intercontinental Exchange's platform would provide investors with actual Bitcoin rather than derivatives like Bitcoin Futures.

In follow up comments, Popper also noted that Intercontinental Exchange and LedgerX were considering an Ether-centered investment product, but they shelved those plans because Ethereum's regulatory future remains uncertain.

Last week, Goldman Sachs confirmed that it would begin operating a Bitcoin futures trading desk that would increase the availability of Bitcoin derivatives to interested investors.

Their announcement closely coincides with a surge in popularity for Bitcoin futures.