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December 10, 2017, 06:44:53 AM Last edit: December 10, 2017, 07:16:54 AM by bitfools |
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Which is why it would be intriguing at this time to know what Satoshi thinks of the imminent launch of (US dollar cash-settled) Bitcoin futures by the CME Group. But even more interestingly, it would be intriguing to know what Satoshi would think of the fact that the settlement prices of these new CME Bitcoin futures are based on calculations by a private London-based company whose founder and sole director is from Goldman Sachs.
As a reminder, this is the same Goldman Sachs which Matt Taibbi described as follows, coincidentally also in 2009:
"The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it's everywhere. The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money."
This is also the same Goldman Sachs, whose alumni currently occupy positions in the most powerful financial positions in the world, positions such as US Secretary of the Treasury (Steven Mnuchin), President of the European Central Bank (Mario Draghi), Governor of the Bank of England (Mark Carney), and President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (Bill Dudley).
The Fix is In: CME Bitcoin Futures
One key feature that stands out when glancing at the contract specs of these soon to be launched CME Bitcoin futures contracts is that they will be cash-settled based on a “CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate (BRR)”
A recent CME press release elaborates:
“CME Group's Bitcoin futures will be cash-settled, based on the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate (BRR) which serves as a once-a-day reference rate of the U.S. dollar price of bitcoin.
Since November 2016, CME Group and Crypto Facilities Ltd. have calculated and published the BRR, which aggregates the trade flow of major bitcoin spot exchanges during a calculation window into the U.S. Dollar price of one bitcoin as of 4:00 p.m. London time.
The BRR is designed around the IOSCO Principles for Financial Benchmarks.
Bitstamp, GDAX, itBit and Kraken are the constituent exchanges that currently contribute the pricing data for calculating the BRR.”
A reference rate / benchmark calculated in the City of London that is used as a basis for the settlement of multi-billion dollar financial contracts. Wait, where have we heard that before?
The CME web site also helpfully hosts a methodology document for this Bitcoin Reference Rate (BRR), but which strangely has very little mention of CME, and a lot of citations to Crypto Facilities Ltd.
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