$1 million options bet
Someone paid a $1 million premium for the option to buy 275 bitcoins for $50,000 each. The option expires December 28, 2018.
If prices are below that threshold, the option expires worthless. With the premium, bitcoin will have to rise to $53,600 for the investor to make a profit. However, for every $3600 bitcoin rises above that, the option holder would stand to make another $1 million.
The trade was made on LedgerX, a startup electronic market for bitcoin derivatives. The WSJ reports on the trade, which was made yesterday.
They spoke to the CEO of the exchange who said this:
"Without a doubt, there are institutions out there that are looking at these types of trades or have done these types of trades," he said. "It's not an individual, let's put it that way."
Despite the mania, news that institutional investors are putting money into bitcoin bodes well for cryptocurrencies.