The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the company that manages Bakkt, has announced the launch of new bitcoin futures contracts in Singapore.
The new contracts will be called “Bakkt™ Bitcoin (USD) Cash Settled Monthly Futures“, will be exchangeable on the ICE Futures Singapore exchange and regulated by ICE Clear Singapore.
ICE Futures Singapore is, in fact, the Intercontinental Exchange’s futures exchange on the Singapore Stock Exchange.
The ICE, which owns the New York Stock Exchange, bought in 2013 the Singapore Mercantile Exchange, which is the Singapore Stock Exchange, including the SMX Clearing Corporation (SMXCC).
ICE Futures Singapore and ICE Clear Singapore were subsequently launched in 2015.
This will make it possible to trade bitcoin futures contracts in Asian markets as well.
The new contracts will be based on data from existing Bakkt contracts, i.e. the “Bakkt Bitcoin (USD) Monthly Futures”, which are traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
ICE Futures Singapore President and COO Lucas Schmeddes said:
“Our new cash settled futures contract will offer investors in Asia and around the world a convenient, capital efficient way to gain or hedge exposure in bitcoin markets. Building off the success of our deliverable futures contract, the cash settled futures will leverage ICE’s regulated, globally-accessible market to offer a safe, secure and compliant environment for the trading of bitcoin”.
Details and specifications of these new contracts have been published on the ICE Singapore website and the various parties are invited to submit any comments by November 29th, 2019.
After closing this consultation and obtaining the necessary approvals, ICE Futures Singapore plans to start trading on December 9th, 2019.
Previous futures launched by Bakkt on the New York Stock Exchange were initially very reluctantly received by the markets in September 2019, but over the course of the weeks, they began to attract more interest.
According to the latest data, the daily trading volume of $12 million has been exceeded in recent days, with peaks of 15 a couple of weeks ago. It is not to be excluded that the new contracts could also behave similarly.
