This year’s biggest story was arguably bitcoin — its meteoric 18.5-fold rise, its mob of reputable opponents, its emergence in futures trading.

2017 saw significant developments in the bitcoin narrative, but enough remains unsettled to merit headlines through 2018.

Developing Derivatives

Now that the foundation for futures is laid, Joe Saluzzi, partner and co-founder of Themis Trading, said he expects more discussion of exchange-traded funds.

“The Wall Street industry is pushing extremely hard for that ETF to be listed,” Saluzzi said during the Bitcoin Special of Benzinga's PreMarket Prep radio show. “Once you get one ETF, I would envision there would be multiple ETFs on various cryptos and then maybe you’ll have a basket of cryptos into another ETF.”

Such developments depend on regulatory approval and the stability of bitcoin futures.

“Let’s just see how those trade, and let’s see if there’s any activity that goes on during that settlement time,” Saluzzi said. “If there are problems, it’s going to upend some of the derivatives and I then think we’ll have a whole different discussion.”

Token, ICO Regulation

Kris Nelson, COO of Social Reality Inc (NASDAQ: SRAX), anticipates additional stories surrounding the regulation and enforcement of utility tokens operating like securities.

“I think we’re going to start seeing people register these tokens as securities and having to go through a process with the SEC to put those tokens out on the market in a legitimate and regulated way, and that’s something at SRAX we’re excited about,” Nelson said. “We think that really supports and expands the market.”

Regulation is also expected to expand around initial coin offerings. Michael Sonnenshein, director of business development at Grayscale, said the Street shouldn’t be surprised by enforcement activity by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Corralling The Concept

Another story will be the determination of what, exactly, cryptocurrency is. Authorities could designate it either a utility or security.

“What I think we’re going to see next year is a greater amount of definition and a greater amount of process, at least in the United States, around these things,” Nelson said.

Want to hear more from the PreMarket Prep Bitcoin Special? Click the play button below to purchase the full 90-minute show. A preview is also available above the play button.

PreMarket Prep is a daily trading ideas show hosted by former floor trader Joel Elconin and prop trader Dennis Dick. You can listen to the show live and participate in our chatroom every day from 8-9 a.m. ET here. The show is also available on YouTube Live. The podcast is available on iTunes, Soundcloud, and Stitcher.