Bitcoin's market swing hasn't impacted interest for futures tied to the cryptocurrency, says TD Ameritrade executive.

“We get calls, emails, 60 000 clients have already traded something in here. As soon as you open the door, you are going to get people, a lot of people” explains Steven Quirk, vice president of TD Ameritrade on a panel discussion on Consensus 2019 conference.

Many people are already seriously interested to participate in this market. It's not just millennials, but older generations of investors too. For instance, participation on bitcoin education events facilitated by company is very high. TD Ameritrade found out that bitcoin futures are point of equal interest for both investment advisors and standard retail clients.

A fellow panelist Thomas Chippas, CEO of exchange ErisX which TD Ameritrade has invested in, commented on institutional investors, which claim they're already investing in bitcoin: “Apologies it's not going faster, but it's already happening. It's never fast enough for people who write headlines.”

Both panelists commented further there's demand for bitcoin settled futures, which would be based on underlying commodity rather than on cash, because they would allow traditional risk management tools to function better.

Quirk compares the current situation on the digital assets market to the dot.com bubble of the 1990s. Players like Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google (FAANG) all emerged as products of those times, despite the bubble burst big time.