ICE’s Bakkt Commences The Trading for Its Bitcoin Futures Contracts Today Onwards
The trading for ICE’s Bakkt Bitcoin Futures contracts finally goes live starting today, September 23. Making the official announcement, Bakkt tweeted: “We’re live! The first Bakkt Bitcoin Futures trade was executed at 8:02pm ET at a price of $10,115”.
The launch of the Bakkt’s Bitcoin Futures contracts comes a month after the platform was first announced in August 2018. Bakkt Bitcoin Futures contracts come in two offerings - the Daily Futures Contracts and the Monthly Futures Contracts.
Both the Bakkt Bitcoin Futures contracts are physically-settled, meaning that the settlement will take in actual Bitcoin tokens instead of cash. Also, the futures contracts are cleared by ICE Clear U.S.
To ensure the safe storage of Bitcoins, Bakkt also offers its clients secure custody solutions like the Bakkt Warehouse.
Bakkt started its Bitcoin Warehouse facility earlier this month on September 6. The Bakkt Warehouse is an institutional-grade custody solution and aims to provide institutional investors a secure facility for storing their Bitcoin tokens.
Besides, the Warehouse facility provides complete insurance against any sort of theft. It also has both hot(online) and cold(offline) storage solutions. Bakkt’s official website for custody mentions:
“The Bakkt Warehouse is comprised of both online (“warm”) and offline, air-gapped (“cold”) digital asset storage. Bakkt rebalances between warm and cold storage tiers to minimize risks associated with warm storage. To further protect our customers, Bakkt’s warm and cold wallets are covered by a $125,000,000 insurance policy from a leading global carrier. This coverage will be reevaluated from time to time based on risks and updates to operational best practices. In addition, Bakkt is working with one of the largest custody banks in the world, BNY Mellon, as part of its safekeeping process”.
As per the existing data on Bakkt website, a total of 28 Bitcoin futures contracts have been traded since its launch, at press time.
Bakkt’s Bitcoin Futures are federally regulated and thus completed monitored under the safe eyes of the CFTC. Besides, its custody facility is also regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS).
Bakkt believes that being properly regulated through federal agencies will bring institutional players to its platform.
Citing Bakkt’s launch of Bitcoin Futures, the CME Group has recently requested the CFTC to double the size of contracts offering for the CME Bitcoin Futures. The CME Group was the first one to launch cash-settled Bitcoin Futures contracts in December 2017.
The euphoria of Bakkt’s entry has yet to kick-in among Bitcoin investors. The Bitcoin price is facing a downward pressure over the last week. At press time, BTC has slipped