As per the tweet, testing for Bitcoin daily and monthly futures has began with participants from around the world. Bakkt Intially announced the launch in June, though Bakkt COO Adam White stated:
“On July 22, two days after Apollo 11’s 50th anniversary, Bakkt will initiate user acceptance testing for its Bitcoin futures listed and traded at ICE Futures U.S. and cleared at ICE Clear US.”
White also added that introducing Bitcoin futures will invite more institutional investors to dip their toes in cryptocurrency markets. Bakkt’s Bitcoin futures are physically delivered via a process called “warehousing.” The technique purportedly works well from a price discovery standpoint, though regulators share some concerns about it.
After several delays in its launch due the delay from regulators such as the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, who investigated the platform’s compliance procedures and its possible effect on markets. Sam Doctor, the managing director and quant strategist at Fundstrat Global Advisors, predicted last week that full futures trading on Bakkt will launch this quarter. He said at the time:
“There appears to be a critical mass of adopters ready to come on board on Day 1 of the Bakkt launch, with the sales team gaining traction among brokers, market makers, prop trading desks and liquidity providers.”