BTC is Ceding Ground to Stablecoins as the Settlement Currency for Crypto Derivatives
However, there is one area, where stablecoins are stealing a march on bitcoin – settlement of crypto derivatives.
For the uninitiated, derivatives are financial products that derive their value from an underlying asset or a group of underlying assets. In the case of crypto derivatives, these underlying assets are cryptocurrencies or crypto-assets. The currency in which profit/ loss of a derivative contract is denominated is referred to as the settlement currency.
Derivatives are currently the most exciting area of crypto trading and have seen remarkable growth in the last 12 to 18 months. This growth is being led by new entrants which are shaking up several aspects of derivatives trading, including settlement currency. The incumbents, namely BitMex and Deribit have preferred BTC settled contracts. Deribit now also offers futures and options on ETH that are settled in ETH. However, the broader market is quickly moving towards stablecoin settlement.
Read: Bitcoin Hong Kong
Another big reason why Bitcoin is an undisputable king and should remain as such, is the lack of actively used blockchain solutions. Currently there are almost no actual business implementations. Sure, we can see lots of blockchain projects, but how many of them delivered working products, that are meeting unmet needs? Big companies and governments are also testing this technology in various fields, but it’s not even close to what it could and should be.
