The owner of the New York Stock Exchange is betting on the public, businesses and Wall Street insiders to embrace cryptocurrencies, launching a market for bitcoin futures known as Bakkt.
Bakkt’s regulated, physically–delivered daily and monthly futures started trading on Sunday, Sept. 22, with customers’ bitcoins being stored by a qualified custodian regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services, according to Bitcoin.com.
The Bakkt Bitcoin (USD) Daily Futures Contract and Bakkt Bitcoin (USD) Monthly Futures Contract are powered by the New York Stock Exchange’s parent company, Intercontinental Exchange Inc., Microsoft and Boston Consulting Group.
They are accessible by qualified market participants in the U.S. and internationally.
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The futures are paid out in bitcoin upon settlement, a departure from the Intercontinental Exchange’s competitor CME Group, which introduced its own futures contracts for the digital currency in 2017 that pays out in cash.
Cryptocurrency enthusiasts are hoping the federally regulated Intercontinental Exchange’s bitcoin futures will give the asset class some form of legitimacy and overcome the controversy that has mired digital coin markets in recent years, CNBC reported.
Bitcoin’s volatility in the 2017 bubble saw it jump to nearly $20,000 before it deflated, leaving many investors licking their wounds. The cryptocurrency has been on the rise this year, buoyed by Facebook’s announcement that it will issue its own regulated digital currency, Libra.
