The long-awaited Bakkt Bitcoin (USD) Daily Futures Contract that was to be launched in December 2018 has been rescheduled for the next year 2019 subject to regulatory approval.
The announcement of the postponement was contained in a notice posted on ICE’s official blog today 20 November 2018. According to the announcement, ICE Futures U.S., Inc. will list the new Bakkt Bitcoin (USD) Daily Futures Contract for trading on Thursday 24 January 2019.
The notice also gives further details on the futures
“The Bakkt Bitcoin (USD) Daily Futures Contract is a physically-settled daily futures contract for bitcoin held in Bakkt Warehouse, and will be cleared by ICE Clear US, Inc. Each futures contract calls for delivery of one bitcoin held in Bakkt Warehouse, and will trade in U.S. dollar terms. One daily contract will be listed for trading each Exchange Business Day.”
The postponement is kind of disappointing for the crypto community because it was expected to help boost the market for Bitcoin and probably bring some bullish end-of-year price predictions to pass for the asset. The company, however, says it is necessary to give more time for the customer and clearing member onboarding in preparation for the trading and warehousing of the new contract.
Bitcoin and other major currencies have been experiencing a bloody market in the past few days and the launch was expected to be one of the means of boosting the market. The other means which is the approval of an ETF by the SEC is also not in sight as there has been no news concerning the commission’s decision on the nine ETF applications it reviewed till the end of October 2018.
Although there is so much panic and investors are selling off, some crypto bulls believe this crash will not last and the market will be up and running again shortly. The crypto community, however, is watching to see what happens in the next few days.
Bitcoin trades at $4,561 according to Coinmarketcap and the other top cryptocurrencies have dipped as well. Will the Winter get colder or are we approaching Spring soon?
