Bakkt finally launches on September 23

The thing which the entire crypto community has been eagerly waiting for has finally been approved and will be launched on September 23. After a long period of controversy, delays, and indeterminacy, Bakkt has officially announced the launch of Bitcoin futures trading on the mentioned date. Although customer with access to Bakkt Warehouse will be able to start depositing the physically-delivered BTC futures contracts on September 6.

Many cryptocurrency experts believe that the inception of the fully-fledged Bitcoin futures trading will have a tremendous impact on the industry and, by association, on the price of the Digital Gold, which seems to have mired in a steep correction, following the brief testing of the $13,000 heights, which has been lingering for the entire August.

Fact about Bakkt

Just a quick reminder that Bakkt is a private business entity, domiciled in Atlanta, Georgia. It was established in 2018 by Adam White and Kelly Loeffler, both being prominent digital entrepreneurs and investors, as a subsidiary company of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which is also the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

The parent company currently runs several regulated exchanges, among which are futures exchanges and clearinghouses. That partially explains the reason why the pool of Bakkt investors already features such well-known names as Pantera Capital, Microsoft Ventures, Goldfinch Partners, and Horizons Ventures.        

Bakkt is an open platform that was designed specifically for the purposes of provision of crypto-related financial services primarily for institutional investors and merchants. The list of services includes cryptocurrency trading, secure custody of digital assets, and, starting from September 23, futures trading. It is evident from the above list of big names that the launch of physically-settled futures contracts trading via Bakkt will create the increased influx of institutional money into the cryptocurrency market, thus increasing its overall capitalization and trade volume.              

The vicissitudes around the Bakkt launch 

Despite the evident benefits that Bitcoin futures trading should bring to the space, the launch of the fully-fledged platform operation has been postponed numerous times, either due to the unreadiness of its functional components or the opposition from regulators. For instance, the start of Bakkt operations was delayed for months because of the reluctance displayed by the US Commodity and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) with regards to approving the exemption for Bakkt to provide Bitcoin custody for futures contracts.

These technical and bureaucratic hurdles forced Bakkt to delay the platform launch for more than a year, whereas the crypto community has been speculating ceaselessly about the possible effect that futures trading would have on the price of Bitcoin.

How Bitcoin might behave after the Bakkt launch

The majority of cryptocurrency experts believe that the commencement of futures trading will have an immensely positive impact on the Bitcoin market in general, and might even catalyze the next significant bull run of the dominant currency towards, or even above, its 2018 all-time high. Some people express caution and remind that the BTC price plunged after the introduction of CME futures, but there is a significant difference between the two as the Bakkt futures deals are settled in Bitcoin, not USD, which facilitates the demand on the BTC spot market. Taking into account the steadily growing hash rate of Bitcoin and its approaching halving, we are most likely to witness Bitcoin staying “in the green” for weeks to come.

Author: Alex Paulson for Crypto-Rating.com