Bakkt will launch Bitcoin [BTC] futures market in December

World’s largest exchange group and owner of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), announced yesterday that it finally has a date for the launch of Bitcoin (BTC) futures contracts on its Bakkt platform.

Via a press release this Monday, it was known that Bakkt could begin offering Bitcoin futures contracts in December, specifically on the 12^th day. The “physical” Bitcoin that backs up the futures contract will be in the “Digital Asset Warehouse” created by Bakkt and ICE.

However, such launching will take place as long as the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) gives it the thumbs-up. If so, it would mark the first cryptocurrency-related offering provided through the new platform.

According to the publication, all future contracts will trade in U.S. dollar terms and must be backed by one Bitcoin.

“Each futures contract requires the delivery of a Bitcoin in the Digital Asset Warehouse of Bakkt, and it will be negotiated in terms of US dollars. A daily contract will be listed to negotiate each Business Exchange Day”, the notice says.

Futures trading will be conducted through ICE Clear U.S., which is listed as one of the best information exchange centers in the current financial world, and it would offer a one-day Bitcoin futures contracts for customers. These characteristics can be taken as good signals for possible clients and investors of Bakkt.

About Bakkt

Microsoft, Starbucks and NYSE first announced the Bakkt’s creation earlier this year, when ICE announced its intention to develop “a global, open and regulated ecosystem for digital assets.”

“The new company is working with a group of organizations such as BCG, Microsoft, Starbucks to create an integrated platform that allows consumers and institutions to buy, sell, store and spend digital assets in a seamless global network,” the ICE said back then.

In order to do that, the three consortiums engaged in a partnership, hoping to create an integrated platform that would allow consumers and institutions to buy, sell, store and spend assets such as Bitcoin.

Bakkt is designed to take advantage of Microsoft’s cloud solutions to create an open and regulated market for digital assets, while prioritizing the trading and conversion of Bitcoin for its liquidity against fiduciary currencies.

At the time of the first announcement about the creation of Bakkt, Jeffrey Sprecher, CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, said:

“By bringing the regulated and connected infrastructure together with institutional and consumer applications for digital assets, we aim to build trust in the class of assets on a global scale, in line with our track record of providing transparency and confidence to previously unregulated markets”.