Bakkt: ICE-Backed Cryptocurrency Startup to Launch Two Bitcoin Futures in Q3 of 2019

The beta-testing of Bitcoin futures contract for ICE-backed cryptoasset trading platform Bakkt was carried out successfully, as per the press release from Mr. Adam White, the COO of Bakkt. The platform has industriously launched customer acceptance testing for its cryptocurrency futures traded and cleared at Intercontinental Exchange Futures US and ICE Clear US respectively.

Bakkt and its parent company ICE want to introduce physical delivery futures contracts to a wide number of market partakers in more than 28 countries across the globe. It is now trying to set the actual roll out date for its Bitcoin future initiative as it waits for the endorsement from NYDFS, as The Block reveals. If the custody solution is successfully sanctioned in time, then the official launch might be in the third quarter (Q3) of 2019, according to ICE CEO Jeffrey Sprecher.

New Institutional Money to Come into the Cryptocurrency Industry

As of now, ICE is still waiting for the final verdict from the New York Dept. of Financial Services (NYDFS) on whether (or not) it can operate the Bakkt Warehouse. If at all is approved, then the platform will work as a limited-purpose trust firm and further work as a competent custodian for the real Bitcoin underlying its cryptocurrency and Bitcoin futures contracts.

Although there is currently no authorization of its custody solution, Bakkt is capable of providing the facility required by investors to send and receive BTC for fiat currencies especially the US dollar (USD) in standardized settlement cycles in the most effective way. The organization plans to launch two BTC futures contracts immediately after the endorsement of Bakkt Warehouse. The two are Bakkt ™ BTC (USD) Daily Futures Contract and Bakkt ™ BTC (USD) Monthly Futures Contract.

The cryptoasset ecosystem will benefit in the daily BTC futures by making transactions in just a single-day and the monthly futures will help traders to trade the forward month within the frontward pricing curve. Generally, ICE and Bakkt will massively fascinate new flows of institutional money into the cryptocurrency sector.

Will the approval of Bakkt’s custody solution and the attraction of fresh institutional investors into the industry contribute to the significant skyrocketing of Bitcoin’s price?