Carl Luft, Ph. D.

Cryptocurrencies are defined by the Bank of International Settlement, BIS, as a currency that is electronic, functions like cash in peer to peer transactions, and are not the liability of a financial institution. They are created by individuals, not governments or central banks. Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency. I will discuss both the Bitcoin cash market and the Bitcoin futures contracts traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Dr. Carl Luft earned his Ph.D. in Finance in from Georgia State University in 1983 and is an Associate Professor of Finance at DePaul University. Since 1982 he has taught courses in: Risk Management, Derivatives Pricing, International Finance, Investments, and Financial Statement Analysis at DePaul University. In October of 2011 Dr. Luft became the Academic Director of the Arditti Center for Risk Management at DePaul University. Dr. Luft was associated with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange from 1987 through 2008 where he has taught courses in: Money Markets and Futures Pricing, Interest Rate Hedging, and Foreign Exchange Trading. Between 1990 and 2000 Dr. Luft was the DePaul University program administrator for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange/DePaul University Futures and Options Certificate Program. From 2012 through 2014 Dr. Luft was the program administrator for the DePaul/Chinese Financial Futures Exchange Program which provided extensive instruction in applied derivatives for Chinese Financial Futures Exchange, CFFEX, executives. In 2016 Dr. Luft accepted an appointment to the National Introducing Broker’s Association, NIBA, Advisory Board.

He also has consulted with various Chicago trading firms in matters regarding derivative pricing. Dr. Luft has published books and articles on derivative instruments, hedging, and alternative investments.