Up-and-coming digital assets trading provider Xena Financial Systems UK Ltd. Tuesday entered the derivatives market with the first-ever leveraged cryptocurrency-settled derivative contract for the GRAM token.

The GRAM token is the cryptocurrency backed by secure messaging app provider Telegram Messenger LLC, which raised $1.7 billion privately in May.

The fundraising was so successful that Telegram canceled plans to offer the tokens in a public initial coin offering and since that time the tokens have not been publicly traded.

Xena’s derivative contracts on the GRAM token do not make the tokens tradable but give those who were unable to buy the tokens the ability to earn dividends on potential future exchange-rate hikes. At the same time, GRAM holders can hedge their investments against possible exchange-rate drops.

“This is a significant step for the entire crypto market, considering the importance of the GRAM token and its potential value as an asset for derivative contracts trading,” Anton Kravchenko, chief executive officer of the Xena Exchange, said in a statement. “This is the first time on the cryptocurrency market where contracts have been used not only to speculate on the rate changes but also to hedge the risks.”

A spokesperson for the company told SiliconANGLE that “XENA is a derivative contracts and cryptocurrencies exchange from investment banking professionals from JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank etc. built to meet the demands of traders and analysts all over the world.”

Although strongly backed, GRAM and the related Telegram blockchain on which the tokens are meant to used have been fairly quiet over the last nine months.

Telegram said at the time of the fundraising that it intended to use the $1.7 billion to build a “third-generation” blockchain named TON that will use the GRAM token as its native cryptocurrency for transactions.

Image: Xena Exchange