Bakkt’s launch was one of the most anticipated events in the cryptocurrency market. It was supposed to be the savior; pulling out bitcoin from the pit and lifting it to higher grounds. However, until now, Bakkt seemingly hasn’t lived up to its expectations. This has left a lot of investors disappointed if Bakkt’s promises will ever be delivered.
From The Start
Bakkt promised to bring bitcoin and digital assets in general into mainstream adoption. After a series of delays and postponement, Bakkt finally launched on 23rd September 2019.
However, before it launched, there was a lot of hype surrounding the platform. The platform was to be that regulated space where the institutional investors could trust and invest without the fear of price manipulation.
Even Bakkt’s CEO had come up to water the minds of the industry, telling how vital Bakkt’s launch would be and how it would affect the industry.
“Seamless coordination between ICE Futures U.S., ICE Clear U.S., and the Bakkt warehouse is an important feature of Bakkt’s Bitcoin futures. Much like cotton and coffee futures contracts that can go to physical delivery, many of the same processes apply to the Bakkt Bitcoin futures,” Kelly Loeffler, Bakkt’s CEO noted in a statement before its launch.
However, it’s been a month after Bakkt “set sail”, but the community is yet to see the impact of its launch not feel the effect of its promises.
Bakkt Launches, But Institutional Investors Are Missing
After a successful launch, its first trading day recorded meager activities, with only 71 BTCs traded. It got worse as days rolled by with fewer trades on the platform. This got a lot of people questioning if “institutional investors” ever existed.
Even after a 796 percent increase in trading recorded on the platform on Wednesday, 9th October 2019, it was still not enough to prove anything.
Finally, A Light At The End Of The Tunnel
Although things are still not as expected, recent reports show that progress is being made. Skew, in their latest report, after close monitoring of the CME bitcoin futures exchange informed the community that there’s been a steady interest of institutional investors in the market.
In confirmation of this, trading on the Bakkt exchange has been impressive today. Though already registered 370 BTCs traded on its exchange which is currently the highest so far, there’s an anticipation that it could get to about 1139 BTCs, setting a new ATH.
Su Zhu, co-founder at Three Arrows Capital once said in a tweet that “bakkt will be likely first a trickle and then a flood. The reality is that most regulated futures contracts get low adoption on day1 simply b/c, not all futures brokers are ready to clear it, many ppl want to wait and see, the tickers are not even populated on risk systems, etc.”
Pending the time we see massive adoption, the community can only seat back and watch things unfold.
