Written by  Zachary Riley 

After reaching $10000 a coin just a week ago, bitcoin value is now approaching $13000 a coin as of Wednesday morning, after breaking through a new milestone on Tuesday.

On a bullish night of trading, the virtual soared to over $12000 and the bitcoin value shows no sign of slowing down. By 6:36 A.M EST on Wednesday, the cryptocurrency was trading up almost 9% against the US dollar at $12768 per coin.

Bitcoin Futures

In an exchange with Business Insider, John Spallanzani, the chief macro strategist at financial organization CFI Group, suggested that the reason for the sudden boom in value was trading activity in Asia.

“Bitcoin continues to have a strong bid during Asia trading as emerging market currencies are being sold to buy, pushing us above another milestone.”

This new record-breaking value comes ahead of new bitcoin futures contracts by major US exchanges Cboe Global Markets and rival CME Group. With Cboe Global launching the futures on Sunday and CME aiming for a later December release, the path for bitcoin value to continue to advance looks pretty clear. Bitcoin futures will allow investors to bet on the future price of the coin, and are a telling sign that this cryptocurrency is now a mature investment opportunity.

Futures are also great because they may help smooth out the rapid price swings that have left investors anxious. In an interview with Bloomberg, University of Houston Business Professor Craig Pirrong explained a little bit about how these futures might affect the future of bitcoin value.

“Having this instrument that makes it easier to short might keep the bitcoin price a little closer to reality.”

Bearish investors are extremely excited about the new opportunities that bitcoin futures might offer. Currently, borrowing bitcoins to short them physically is an expensive and difficult process. This new rollout will make the process much more convenient and much less expensive, which should allow investors to treat bitcoin like a more traditional currency.