Bakkt Rolls Out Bitcoin Options and Cash Settled Futures for Institutional Investors 

Popular cryptocurrency institutional investment firm Baktk has announced that it will be launching new Bitcoin options and futures. The launch, which is coming just a few months after its physically-delivered Bitcoin futures contracts went live, was confirmed in a blog post that was published on December 9.

There, Bakkt claimed that the products, which are Bitcoin (USD) Options and Bitcoin (USD) Cash Settled Monthly Futures, will be supported by the previous financial product, which will now act as a benchmark for them.

New Products Incoming

The product will be launched on the same day, thus providing investors with even more opportunities to hedge their investments across the industry. Bakkt has also announced that it will be bringing an official Bitcoin custody offering for institutional clients. As at press time, notable industry figures such as Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital and Tagomi, have already signed up to be customers to the service.

Over 1,000 Bakkt Bitcoin (USD) Cash Settled Futures contracts have been traded at ICE Futures Singapore since launching earlier today

— Bakkt (@Bakkt) December 9, 2019

The launches are all a part of the company’s plan to build a “scalable on-ramp for institutional, merchant, and consumer participation in digital assets by promoting greater efficiency, security, and utility,” as stated by the company chief executive Kelly Loeffler. 

The launch is also coming about a month before that of CME, another major institutional investment firm in the crypto space. However, the major difference here is that while Bakkt’s pricing will be based on its existing product, the price of the CME futures will be dependent on its Bitcoin index. 

Bakkt’s Volatile 2019 

Undoubtedly, everything seems to be turning up great for Bakkt at the moment. The physically-delivered Bitcoin futures which launched in September have endured a bit of a sluggish start, but the products have so far been able to shake all of that and are now trading in some impressive numbers. According to current data from the Intercontinental Exchange (Bakkt’s parent company), the futures have traded 1,165 contracts today alone, with the last traded price being $7,577. 

Earlier this month, Bakkt Volume Bot, A Twitter account that provides daily records of the futures performance, reported that open interest had hit an all-time high. Per the December 3 tweet, the open interest on the futures hit $6.5 million, depicting a considerably strong level of interest in the financial products themselves. 

In addition to the strong performance of the futures, Bakkt chief executive Kelly Loeffler was also recently accepted into the United States Senate. According to a December 4 report from the Washington Post, Loeffler was appointed by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, and will be replacing Republican Senator Johnny Isakson, who will be retiring at the end of the year. 

Although reports show that U.S. President Donald Trump wasn’t particularly sold on Loeffler’s appointment, there is a lot of hope that she will be able to help lawmakers and regulators with drafting proper laws for financial products in the crypto space going forward.