In news that will certainly change the Bitcoin marketplace of the future, LedgerX, the institutional trading and clearing platform for Bitcoin, has received full approval from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission to be a derivatives clearing organization (DCO).

The company had previously been granted approval as a swap execution facility (SEF) but was not able to offer options until the DCO approval was granted. With this approval, LedgerX becomes the first platform cleared for trading by the CFTC.

According to the company website:

"LedgerX is the first federally regulated Bitcoin options exchange and clearinghouse to list fully collateralized, physically settled Bitcoin options in the US."

With a sizable portion of institutional level investors wanting to join the marketplace, the change signals a major move for the federal government, offering a way for institutional investors to be able to hedge against price swings in digital currencies in the same way they protect against volatility in other assets.