Bitcoin rebounds after U.S. regulator approves futures

Bitcoin rebounded on Friday to hit the day's highs above $10,500 US, recovering from an earlier dip below $9,500 US, after the U.S. derivatives regulator said it would allow CME Group and CBOE Global Markets to list bitcoin futures.

The announcement by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) paves the way for CME and CBOE to become the first traditional U.S. regulated exchanges to launch trading in bitcoin-related financial contracts, a watershed moment for the cryptocurrency that could lead to greater regulatory scrutiny.

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Bitcoin, which had been trading at around $10,150 US on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange before the news, jumped following the news, leaving it up more than six per cent on the day.

It has been a volatile week for the biggest and best-known cryptocurrency. On Wednesday, bitcoin smashed through $10,000 US before rocketing past $11,000 US less than 12 hours later to an all time-high of $11,395 US, and then plunging around 20 percent in the hours that followed.

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