DigitalAssetClear

Investor demand for safe access to digital assets is rising. But the lack of institutional credit and credit intermediation services, market friction and unregulated, crypto exchange technology and infrastructure have impeded the adoption and growth of digital asset derivatives.

With Bitcoin OTC volumes having reached significant levels, regulators are looking to tried-and-tested traditional financial market infrastructures to provide greater risk management protections and prevent market contagion. This is driving a transition to regulated institutional-grade execution and clearing venues.

DigitalAssetClear factsheet

202.9KB • PDF

LCH DigitalAssetClear is our new fully-regulated, segregated clearing service for cash-settled Bitcoin index futures and options contracts traded on GFO-X, the UK’s first FCA-regulated, centrally-cleared multilateral trading facility (MTF) dedicated to digital asset futures and options.

Developed with GFO-X in close consultation with our market partners, DigitalAssetClear allows institutional market participants to take on or hedge digital asset exposure, safely and securely. This is clearing the way for the market to fully develop and flourish.

Learn more about GFO-X

DigitalAssetClear combines LCH SA’s proven market and counterparty credit risk management, and trusted market infrastructure, with GFO-X’s digital asset expertise. This allows us to deliver risk mitigation, and settlement, netting and margin efficiencies for a new, rapidly-growing asset class in a trusted regulated environment.

Safe exposure to digital assets
Integrated and regulated
Full segregation of assets
Enhanced risk management

Fully-regulated service provides a safe, secure environment to gain exposure to digital asset derivatives.
Significant liquidity potential, with options directly on the reference rather than the futures.
Cash settlement (USD cash-settled futures and options on a Bitcoin reference).

Approved by European and French regulators to clear cash-settled Bitcoin index futures and options contracts.
Trusted, market-leading clearing infrastructure within the LSEG Post Trade ecosystem, based and regulated in Europe.
Seamless connectivity to GFO-X.

Financial and operational risk segregation, with separate default fund, waterfall, IT chain and flows.
Provides stability and security, with no contagion risk to other LCH SA clearing services in the event of a clearing member default.

Robust, proven risk management.
Tailored, familiar historical VAR/Expected Shortfall models.
Counterparty risk management through clearing at the CCP level.
User-incentivised default management process.

DigitalAssetClear provides clearing services for the following derivatives contracts traded on GFO-X:

Cash settled Future contracts on GFO-X/Coin Metrics single Asset Real-Time Bitcoin Index: monthly and quarterly expiries up to one year
Cash settled Option contracts on GFO-X/Coin Metric single Asset Real-Time Bitcoin Index: weekly, monthly and quarterly expiries up to one year

Read the full product specifications