At exactly 8 pm EST, bitcoin’s futures trading went live at the Intercontinental Exchange for the very first time. Finally, the much-anticipated launch of Bakkt’s bitcoin futures trading platform is here. The platform is now trading live at the Intercontinental Exchange.
When It All Began
It all began in 2018, the year after the meteoric break out of bitcoin. Everybody had his eye on bitcoin. Not just the media but regulators as well. Everybody who had an opinion on the flagship currency, positive or negative, true or untrue received public limelight. And mostly, it was negative and untrue sentiments that were covered. The result was a steep decline for bitcoin in a market that lost 80% of its value.
It was at such a time when institutional investors were much needed. Bakkt, a product of Intercontinental Exchange is such an institutional player. But it was subject to regulatory approvals, therefore failing to make a debut the same year.
And finally, In August 16th the pioneering platform announced that it had finally won approval from the regulators. Immediately, the platform began plans to commence its launch. September 23rd became the D-day.
The beginning of Institutional Investment Into Crypto
When the bitcoin futures concept was announced in mid-2018, a commitment was made of launching fully-regulated bitcoin futures that would be physically settled. The news spread like wildfire in the crypto space. This marked the beginning of institutional interest in crypto and influencers and investors were beginning to see the impact it would have on bitcoin’s price.
Its parent company the Intercontinental Exchange already has a stronghold in the traditional financial markets. Led by Jeff Sprecher, the American company owns and operates 12 regulated exchanges and marketplaces including the New York stock exchange. ICE also manages six clearinghouses. The company is now set to change the entire crypto game in a regulated manner.
Founder of CoinGecko bobby Ong has tied Bakkt to several positives. He admits that its launch, first of all, is good news for the industry, providing a path for more institutions to participate and get physical delivery. Ong also admitted the fact that it was hard to call on price movement as many factors were now in play.
Discovering Its Own Path
The bitcoin futures contracts are going to be physically settled, meaning that upon the expiration of the contract, the investor gets bitcoin as opposed to fiat. The contracts are now traded on ICE futures US. Bakkt had previously announced a warehousing facility (all in one package) for protected storage of customer bitcoin which went live earlier on September 6.
Pricing of bitcoin is the first ground of impact for Bakkt. But the platform has stated that it would not conform to the prices set in the spot market. It is set to discover its own path.
Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffler states in a blog that trusted price formation is fundamental to the advancement of digital currencies.