BIT & Paradigm Add TONCoin To Boost Crypto’s Options Trading Market

Cryptocurrency traders who’re looking for new options to invest in may well want to consider the actual “options market” now that there’s a new token in town. That would be TONcoin, the native cryptocurrency of The Open Network (TON), which is now available to trade on the options market on BIT exchange, and will soon launch on Paradigm.

The crypto options market differs from the much more popular crypto spot market. With spot trading, users will trade a cryptocurrency pair such as BTC/ETH against one another, essentially just swapping one for the other and trying to guess the market. Options trading is quite different, and involves buying a contract that gives the owner the right, but not an obligation, to purchase the underlying asset at a set price before or at the end of its expiration date. It can be extremely profitable if the price moves in the right direction, and there’s minimal risk because if the trade is not executed, the trader only loses the fee that was paid for the contract in the first place.

Until now, the crypto options market has been relatively underused by crypto traders. According to BIT, it accounts for just two percent of all crypto trading activity – most likely because, until now, the only two cryptocurrencies that could be traded were Bitcoin and Ether. However, BIT and Paradigm believe the options market has the potential to grow much, much bigger than it currently is. They point out that in the regular Forex market, for example, options trading is 35-times the size of the spot trading market.

This is why they’re looking to extend their options trading ‘options’ with TON, which is said to be one of the most promising so-called altcoins around. It’s the native token of the TON blockchain that was originally conceived by the creators of the Telegram messaging app. Although Telegram is no longer involved in the project, TON has gotten a lot of attention in the past year thanks to its blazing-fast transaction speeds and low costs. With its value growing by almost 200X in the last six months of 2023, it has risen to become the 23rd biggest cryptocurrency by market cap.

BIT and Paradigm said they’re partnering with two companies called Darley Technologies and DWF Labs to bring TON to their options markets. Darley is providing the infrastructure necessary to make it happen, helping to address the challenges around market making for altcoins, which is something that involves unique operational risks. Darley, which hopes to eventually bring more altcoins to the crypto options market, said that providing market making services for TON was a new milestone for the company.

“Through cutting edge technology, innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit, Darley Technologies has the vocation to democratize options,” said Darley co-founder and CEO Clément Florentin.

Just as important was the role of DWF Labs, which is a key backer of the TON ecosystem, supporting its network through token development, market creation and exchange listings. DWF has pledged to support the TON Foundation to the tune of $10 million, and has already issued grants to support numerous projects building on TON.

TON options trading is live on BIT now and is open to both retail and institutional investors hoping to increase their exposure to TON.

“With the advent of dollar-margined products and the addition of various altcoin options, the options market has enormous growth potential,” said BIT’s co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Lan. “BIT and our trusted partners are devoted to increasing the accessibility of crypto options for both institutional and retail traders.”