Bakkt’s Launch: The Game-Changer for Crypto Futures Markets

Bakkt’s Big Announcement

On August 16, Bakkt made the waves with their blog post, detailing the eagerly awaited launch of their platform for daily and monthly futures in the United States. It seems Bakkt is getting its act together, with the launch date set for September 23, right after they received the tick of approval from the regulators.

Physical Futures: A Long, Winding Road

The journey to the launch of Bakkt’s physically delivered futures has been anything but straightforward. Initially, they teased us back in August 2018 but were met with a series of hiccups—mainly due to the daunting compliance hurdles posed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). It’s almost like they were playing tag with regulations, but as of July 22, they seemed to be hitting the ground running.

The Important Meetings

In an effort to smoothen the path to launch, Bakkt has organized numerous events in major cities like New York and Chicago—these locations are essentially the lifeblood of the U.S. futures market. These meetups weren’t just for the coffee and doughnuts; they included serious discussions with regulators from both CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Talk about rubbing shoulders with the bigwigs!

Partnerships and Collaborations

To ensure the success of this launch, Bakkt has teamed up with the Intercontinental Exchange Futures U.S. and Intercontinental Exchange Clear U.S. Their partnership reveals a concerted effort to make these futures contracts not just a notion but a tangible option for investors.

U.S. Institutions Are All About That Crypto

The excitement doesn’t stop here. The landscape for institutional services in the crypto world is heating up. Just the other day, U.S. exchange Coinbase announced the inclusion of Xapo’s Institutions in their custodial operations. The CEO of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, was quick to comment on the explosive growth in interest from institutional investors. If you ever doubted the crypto revolution, he puts it succinctly:

“Whether institutions were going to adopt crypto or not was an open question about 12 months ago. I think it’s safe to say we now know the answer. We’re seeing $200-400M a week in new crypto deposits come in from institutional customers.”

This indicates that the tide has really turned for crypto, with Bakkt at the helm of this exciting new chapter.