This week, Bakkt announced that Bitcoin (BTC) futures contracts will be available for trading on December 12th. In a press release issued on Monday, Bakkt said that the futures contracts will be the first trading product to go live on the platform. According to the press release:

ICE Futures U.S., Inc. will list the new Bakkt Bitcoin (USD) Daily Futures Contract for trading on Wednesday, December 12, 2018. The Bakkt Bitcoin (USD) Daily Futures Contract is a physically-settled daily futures contract for bitcoin held in Bakkt LLC , ICE’s Digital Asset Warehouse , and will be cleared by ICE Clear US, Inc. 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.

While the press release only mentions USD pairs, a previous Tweet from Bakkt last month stated that the launch would include GBP and EUR trading pairs as well. In September, Bakkt Tweeted:

At time of publishing, there is still no word from Bakkt as to whether or not  the GBP and EUR pairs will be available for trading. 

About Bakkt

Bakkt is a platform developed and funded by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Bakkt is one of many institutional organizations from the legacy financial system to recently enter the cryptocurrency industry, but they are by far the most established and well connected. As CryptoGlobe reported earlier this month, Adam White, former Vice President and General Manager at Coinbase recently joined Bakkt as their chief operating officer.

The backing of regulated institutions like ICE will undoubtedly make many investors more comfortable trading cryptocurrencies. However, not everyone is excited about traditional financial institutions getting involved in cryptocurrency markets. Last week, CryptoGlobe reported that Dogecoin creator Jackson Palmer warned his followers about Bakkt specifically, suggesting that institutional influence could turn the cryptocurrency industry into “Wall Street 2.0.”