- Bakkt has announced that they will be launching their bitcoin futures in September 2019
- This is in partnership with ICE futures US and ICE clear US
News has come from the management of Bakkt via an August 16, 2019 blog post in which it was announced that Bakkt will be releasing their custody and physically delivered daily and monthly bitcoin futures contracts on September 23, 2019, which will be in partnership with ICE futures US and ICE clear US.
This is the result of a year-long plan as the company announced in 2018 that they intended to bring institutional infrastructure to digital assets with an end-to-end regulated market place. According to the press release, their contracts have been approved by the CTFC through their self-certification process and user acceptance testing has already begun.
Futures Coming Soon
With approval from the New York State Department of financial services to create a trust company, the Bakkt Warehouse will now be able to custody bitcoin for physically delivered futures. This is a milestone because consumers will now have regulatory clarity and security as well as an exchange in a market that has previously not been given enough attention from institutional infrastructures.
To kick off this new development, Bakkt will be offering secure qualified custodian for bitcoin in support of their futures contract. As such, the Bakkt Warehouse which acts as a part of the Bakkt trust company will be built using cyber and physical security protections to support mainstream traded markets such as the New York Stock Exchange. They will also meet independent governance and compliance requirements meaning they will have the highest possible standards of oversight which will give consumers a sense of security.
The bitcoin futures contracts being launched will not rely upon spot market for settlement prices and it will be able to serve as a transparent price discovery mechanism for the price of bitcoin and will also allow consumers avoid the manipulative spot market activity which has been reported on in recent times as well as other issues such as anti-money-laundering policies and compliance controls.
The contracts will be covered by existing guarantee fund at ICE Clear US with an incremental $35 million being contributed to the existing guaranty fund with the addition of these futures contract. The warehouse will also provide secure custody of bitcoin with $125 million in insurance.
