Crypto Facilities, the U.K-based crypto futures exchange and CME Group partner, is adding a bitcoin cash product to its offerings.

The firm announced Friday that it was launching the contract on its platform, which is regulated by the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority. Trading of the bitcoin cash future will begin at 4 p.m. British Standard Time (BST).

The contract joins the company's existing bitcoin, ethereum, XRP and litecoin futures contracts. Investors can take long or short positions on bitcoin cash, "allowing them to broaden investment opportunities and hedge risk more effectively," according to the company.

Crypto Facilities CEO Timo Schlaefer told CoinDesk that "bitcoin cash is a top-five cryptocurrency by market cap so it was a logical next step to add BCH to our BTC, ETH, XRP and LTC futures offering."

Schlaefer predicted that the offering would be popular with its customers, based on past interest in its other crypto futures, going on to say:

"Since 2015 we have seen a steady increase in volume in the cryptocurrency derivatives space, with the past year seeing the highest growth so far," he added.

While Crypto Facilities does not have a U.S. branch, the firm partnered with CME Group to launch the latter firm's bitcoin futures contract last December.

To that end, Crypto Facilities powers two bitcoin price indexes – the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate and CME CF Bitcoin Real Time Index – that underpin CME Group's futures product.

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