Winklevoss twin challenges bitcoin hater, Bill Gate

[Domithra]

The cofounder of one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges is calling out Bill Gates for his recent anti-bitcoin comments.

Gates, the cofounder of computer and software giant Microsoft, said Monday he would short the digital currency if he could.

"I agree I would short it if there was an easy way to do it," Gates said during an appearance on Squawk Box.

Responding to the billionaire, Tyler Winklevoss, the founder of Gemini, the crypto exchange, challenged Gates' remarks on Twitter.

"There is an easy way to short bitcoin," Winklevoss said in a tweet.

"You can short #XTB, the CBOE Bitcoin Futures contract, and put your money where your mouth is," Winklevoss added.

Bitcoin futures, which launched in December 2017, allow investors to bet on the future price of bitcoin without actually touching the wildly volatile coin. The cryptocurrency soared towards its all-time high of $20,000 a coin, leading up to the launch of futures.

While the futures markets are not as well-known as equities, investors can easily take a position (either long or short) in the market through a broker such as TD Ameritrade or Interactive Brokers.

The markets for bitcoin futures have steadily picked up since their launch, with close to 10,000 contracts for the front month trading on Cboe Global Markets at last check, according to Cboe data.

They have allowed bears to express a negative view on the cryptocurrency, which has weighed on its price, new research from the San Francisco Federal Reserve shows.

"The launch of bitcoin futures allowed pessimists to enter the market, which contributed to the reversal of the bitcoin price dynamics," researchers said.

At last check, bitcoin was trading at $9,393 a coin, according to Markets Insider data.