E*Trade lets customers trade in Cboe bitcoin futures

The online brokerage firm E*Trade Financial  will allow customers to trade bitcoin futures from Cboe Global Markets, the company said on its website Wednesday, joining its rivals in opening the door for more mainstream adoption of the cryptocurrency.

Cboe's bitcoin futures contract trades under the ticker symbol 'XBT'.

The launch of futures by Chicago-based exchange Cboe and its rival CME Group  a week earlier, had been hailed by many as the moment that bitcoin reached the investment mainstream.

Cboe and CME were given approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to listbitcoin futures on Dec. 1, paving the way for the companies to become the first traditional U.S.-regulated exchanges where bitcoin-related financial contracts can trade.

(Reporting by Sonam Rai in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)