Huobi Group has rebranded its cryptocurrency derivatives exchange platform Huobi DM to Huobi Futures.
According to the announcement from spokesperson and head of Huobi global business Ciara Sun the new name of the exchange is to signify the growth of the nascent industry into one that is now garnering the interests of both institutional and retail investors.
Leveraging the potential of the derivatives market
Reports shared by Huobi Group with Cryptox show that Huobi’s derivative platform has brought in substantial growth for the company in the first quarter of 2020. It is evident from the report why Huobi might be focusing on rebranding and pushing further its derivatives platform — now called Huobi Futures — to a wider audience.
The quarterly report says that Huobi Futures experienced a 88.04% hike in the number of institutional investors over Q1 2020. Derivatives trading volume saw an increase of 171.16%, rising from $126.7 billion average quarterly trading volume in 2019 to $343.8 billion in Q1 2020.
Ciara Sun also revealed in an interview that institutional investors account for 40% of Huobi’s trading volume.
Five years away from market maturity
Sun noted during the interview that the cryptocurrency markets are slowly maturing as more governments around the world take interest in the sector and try to better regulate the industry. This is driving an increased number of institutional investors to participate in the industry. However, we might need more specified guidance from regulatory agencies for larger institutions to trust the crypto space and get more actively involved.
“Larger institutions will not trust under-regulated digital asset exchanges, and we are still five years away from market maturity,” Sun added.
