Bakkt Finally Launches the First Live Bitcoin Futures Contracts: First Reactions

As much as there is the excitement of what this could mean, the dormancy in the cryptocurrency market has been noted with a lot of apprehensions. Within the last 24 hours, Bitcoin price failed to move up even 1 percent.

Physically-Settled Bitcoin Futures

Bakkt offers a unique commodity in which payments will be made in Bitcoin for those betting about future bitcoin prizes. This is unlike CME, which has dominated the market for cash-delivered Bitcoin futures after CBOE left in March.

Mati Greenspan, from eToro, asserted that the much-delayed launch of Bakkt was mainly what promoted the massive Bitcoin rally in 2019. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Greenspan said:

“The launch of physically settled futures from Bakkt has been one of the main narratives behind the monster Bitcoin rally during the first half of the year.”

Bakkt launch comes ahead of LegderX and ErisX, which are planning to do a similar thing.

Is Bakkt Collapsing?

As earlier mentioned, movement of Bitcoins is alarmingly low, with Bakkt registering only 13 BTC of trading volume as of this writing. While it was expected to grow throughout the day, the start was way on the lower side.

According to CoinStats data, Bitcoin is currently at $9.953 and has barely moved since the Launch of Bakkt. Many of the share traders expected more volatility.

Image from Coinstats.app

However, Bryce Weiner on a positive comment on Bakkt is confident in its ability to build and uphold trust in crypto.

About whether Bakkt is flopping, the answer would be no, giving the example of VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin ETF cancellation, which happened at 4 Bitcoins worth of blocks sold,  whereas Bakkt is at a staggering 8 Bitcoins hours after its launch.

Importantly, people should remember that Bakkt is a project of Jeff Sprecher, who might not allow his first crypto venture to collapse.