Bakkt’s Futures platform scheduled to begin trading in December

The Intercontinental Exchange has announced its intention to list and enable trading of the new Bakkt Bitocin Daily Futures Contract on its own Futures platform. Trading of Bitcoin Futures contracts is scheduled to go live on December 12th – after the original November deadline fell through. The extended time-frame aims to allow for approval from the Commodity Futures Trade Commission, which is still pending.

Bakkt functions as an open platform for digital assets across global markets and commerce and is designed to enable consumers and institutions to seamlessly buy, sell, store and spend digital assets. Bakkt seeks to develop more trusted, open technology to connect existing market and merchant infrastructure to the blockchain.

Through the Futures, contract investors will be able to trade a physically settled daily futures contract for bitcoin, with a block trade minimum of 10 bitcoin – settling contracts in bitcoin as opposed to cash. Each bitcoin will be held by Bakkt LLC in what the exchange terms a ‘Digital Asset Warehouse’ and each contract will be settled by ICE Clear US, a subsidiary of the Intercontinental Exchange.

“In bringing regulated, connected infrastructure together with institutional and consumer applications for digital assets, we aim to build confidence in the asset class on a global scale, consistent with our track record of bringing transparency and trust to previously unregulated markets,” said Jeffrey C. Sprecher, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange.

Along with discussions with several global investment banks, Bakkt has recently partnered with Starbucks to process payments via Bitcoin on the coffee company’s mobile app.