Bakkt, a company established with the purpose of serving institutions, merchants, and consumers in the cryptocurrency space, provided some updates regarding the launch of its Bitcoin futures contracts.
According to the company’s post earlier today, Bakkt is getting ready for user acceptance testing (UAT) for BTC futures and custody, which is expected to start in July.
Bakkt Working With ICE, CFTC to Develop Contracts
In a blog post published by Bakkt today, the company revealed that alongside its exchange and clearing partners at ICE, it would be working with its customers in the coming weeks to get ready for user acceptance testing for its futures and custody services.
Bakkt is aiming to start the testing in July and will provide more details on that in subsequent posts. The company hopes that the UAT will give its customers the necessary time to onboard and test the futures trading and custody model it has built.
Bakkt pointed out that it has been developing the futures contracts to meet its customer’s needs for trading, market certainty, and transparency. Also, it wants the contracts to be compliant with Federal regulations; thus, the reason why it has been working closely with the CFTC on the project.
The company founded by ICE says the design of the Bitcoin futures contracts has been influenced by conversations with its stakeholders. The contracts will offer unique trading, security and risk management features to its customers.
Bakkt to List Two Contract Futures
According to the ICE Futures U.S. filing with the CFTC earlier today, Bakkt’s Bitcoin futures will be listed on a federally regulated futures exchange in the coming months. It will be listing two futures contracts. The first one will be a daily settlement BTC futures product that allows customers to trade in a same-day market. The second one will be a monthly BTC futures product that would allow users to trade “in the front month and across the forward pricing curve.”
Proven tools would be used in detecting wash trades and other disruptive trading practices. Thus, this will ensure that the settlement prices used on the futures contracts would not rely on unregulated cash markets, instead, on the prices discovered in its physical delivery contracts.
The blog post further highlighted measures Bakkt will take to ensure that risks are appropriately managed. The company revealed that it wishes to become a trust company and function as a qualified custodian for digital assets. It is working with the New York State Department of Financial Services to achieve that goal.
The Bakkt team mentioned its willingness to help bring digital assets mainstream. To that end, it will keep working with regulators and customers to help take digital assets mainstream. Bakkt recognizes the fact that cooperation between business and policymakers is required for the United States to remain an essential player in the evolution of the market.
Bakkt is aiming to serve as the go-to platform for institutional investors in the cryptocurrency sector. Last month, Bakkt acquired Digital Asset Custody Company (DACC), as it seeks to continue developing a safe crypto asset storage solution. It has also hired some important personalities in the crypto space including Adam White, the former Coinbase executive.
