Welcome to our crypto derivative series. This article will guide you to walk through the history of crypto derivatives.

The Crypto market is much more volatile than the traditional market, which creates a massive demand for derivatives to hedge the risk, speculate, and leverage.
The first bitcoin futures platform emerged in 2011 but didn’t attract much market attention. BitMEX joined in 2014 to foster bitcoin derivatives market and invented perpetual swaps in 2016.
CBOE and CME offered bitcoin derivatives in December 2017, since then crypto derivatives can be traded in regulated exchanges. However, severe selloffs followed, and the crypto market cooled down.
2019 is a big year for crypto derivatives. Many famous derivatives exchanges were launched. Even some big names of spot exchange joined to offer crypto derivatives for investors.
Crypto market attracted more and more retail and institutional investors in 2020 during the pandemic. The bitcoin price soared to sky high, and demand for derivatives surged accordingly.
Thanks to the development of DeFi, Ether derivatives have become much more popular recently.
As more regulations are carried out in Europe and the US, many crypto derivative platforms relocate, and Asia becomes the new center.

Read the full PDF version of the History of Crypto Derivatives here.