InterContinental Exchange Reveals Launch Date For Bitcoin Futures On The Bakkt Platform

According to a document released on October 22th, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, Intercontinental Exchange has declared the launch date for bitcoin futures on its Bakkt platform.

Bakkt is a trading, storing and spending digital asset platform. It was established earlier this year by global exchange operator ICE.

As indicated by the document, ICE will list Bakkt Bitcoin daily futures contract for trading on December 12 this year. The product will be physically settled and cleared by ICE clear US Inc. The notice clarifies:

“Each futures contract calls for delivery of one bitcoin held in the Bakkt Digital Asset Warehouse and will trade in U.S. dollar terms. One daily contract will be listed for trading each Exchange Business Day.”

The declaration is supported by a statement released in September that the company’s “first contracts will be physically delivered BTC futures contracts versus fiat currencies” against US dollars, pounds sterling and euro.

As reported before, Bakkt will not back margin trading for its BTC contract. By refraining from allowing for margin, leverage and cash settlement, the platform will allegedly better support market integrity and permit the “trusted price formation” that it says is the key to “advancing the promise of digital currencies.”

Last year December, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and the Chicago Board Operation Exchange released bitcoin futures. The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco wrote an Economic letter this summer claiming that “the rapid run-up and subsequent fall in the price after the introduction of futures does not appear to be a coincidence” and “it is consistent with trading behavior that typically accompanies the introduction of futures markets for an asset.”