Bakkt Goes Live on Dec. 12, 2018

Everything You Need to Know About the Bakkt Launch

Bakkt launches Dec 12th, 2018 assuming the CFTC doesn’t block them. That means daily futures contracts start Dec 12th. We explain the Bakkt launch.

UPDATE: Bakkt’s Jan 24th 2019 launch date has been pushed back. The new launch date is not set, but the plan is to announce it in early 2019.

First, here is the official word:

According to ICE: Pending regulatory approval, ICE will list the new Bakkt Bitcoin (USD) Daily Futures Contract for trading on Wednesday, December 12, 2018.

The key points to understand related to the Bakkt launch are:

1. Bakkt is the holy grail of crypto 2018. Understand why by reading this page on Bakkt.
2. Bakkt is under the jurisdiction of the CFTC (the Commodity Futures Trading Commission) as Bakkt is dealing in futures as phase 1 of their rollout.
3. Assuming the CFTC doesn’t get in the way, daily futures trading will start Dec 12th.
4. Interesting, Bakkt’s parent company ICE doesn’t need pre-approval from the CFTC, they can self-certify Bakkt due to their status as a “designated contract market.” For the CFTC to “get in the way” they would have to reject ICE’s filing. This means we potentially won’t know the fate of Bakkt until D-day (Dec 12). The papers will go live on the CFTC’s website when everything is ready to roll (see: https://sirt.cftc.gov/sirt/sirt.aspx?Topic=TradingOrganizationProducts).
5. One day future contracts are just like they sound. It is a futures contract that settles in Bitcoin the next day. So you buy a futures contract, the next day you have Bitcoin in your account. This is different than the current futures which are cash settled. This is a product for investing in, not spending, Bitcoin.

Next here is Jake Chervinsky Explaining everything you need to know about Bakkt, including some important things I didn’t cover (go here to read the whole thread; I used ICE, Bakkt, and Jake as sources on the information I gave you above, you should follow Bakkt, ICE markets, and Jake on Twitter):

0/ @Bakkt plans to launch next month on December 12, and some people are hoping it kicks off another crypto bull run. Now seems like a good time for a quick discussion on:

– what Bakkt is
– why it might be exciting
– when it will get regulatory approval

Thread. ?

— Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) November 6, 2018

To get more information on Bakkt:

• See our page on Bakkt.
• See the official ICE page on Bakkt contracts.
• See the official announcement on Bakkt contracts going live: OCTOBER 22, 2018 BAKKT™BITCOIN (USD) DAILY FUTURES CONTRACT TO BEGIN TRADING ON DECEMBER 12, 2018.

Bottomline: Assuming all goes as planned and the CFTC doesn’t reject ICE’s self-certification of Bakkt, Bakkt goes live Dec 12, 2018.