“People put more faith in a guy named Satoshi Nakamoto … than they do in the U.S. Fed,” said Jeffrey Sprecher, CEO of ICE.
In December 2017, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) – parent company of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) – demonstrated admirable restraint by not launching a bitcoin derivative product. "We didn't think it was obvious to rush out a product and be first and settle against an index on a lot of [cryptocurrency] exchanges that are not particularly transparent," said ICE CEO Jeffrey Sprecher.[1][2][3][4][5]
A Change Of Heart
Midway through 2018, it appears that ICE has changed tack, even though issues of accountability and liquidity are nowhere near being resolved in the cryptocurrency markets.[6][7]
In an April interview with Bloomberg, Sprecher acknowledged the staying power of cryptocurrencies in the collective consciousness. "There is a trend here that we can't ignore in my mind, so I don't discount it," he said. "It's early days."[8]
"Many people are more comfortable with [technology today] than they are with the institutions of government and society that I grew up with," Sprecher continued. "People put more faith in a guy named Satoshi Nakamoto that no one has ever met than they do in the U.S. Fed." Asked when a cryptocurrency futures contract would debut on one of ICE's exchanges, the executive said, "I don't know," but he "wouldn't rule out anything around currencies."
It sounds like Sprecher was playing coy.
On May 7, 2018, just about one month after that interview, The New York Times reported that ICE has "been working on an online trading
