Bakkt’s CEO, Kelly Loeffler, has published on the official Medium channel an update about the progress of the project. On June 13th, it had been announced that user acceptance testing for their futures contracts backed by physical bitcoins would arrive soon.
Today, we’re pleased to update you on the launch of bitcoin futures contracts developed by Bakkt in collaboration with ICE Futures U.S. and ICE Clear U.S. https://t.co/8G3YcFbPl2
— Bakkt (@Bakkt) May 13, 2019
Bakkt perfectly compliant
Loeffler wanted to point out that the futures will be listed on an exchange perfectly in compliance with all the regulations of the United States.
“Today, we’re pleased to update you on the launch of bitcoin futures contracts developed by Bakkt in collaboration with ICE Futures U.S. and ICE Clear US. We’ve worked closely with the CFTC to develop contracts that both meet our customers’ needs for trading, transparency, and market certainty, and are also compliant with Federal regulations”.
 The UAT is expected by the end of July.
“In conjunction with our exchange and clearing partners at ICE, we’ll be working with our customers over the next several weeks to prepare for user acceptance testing (UAT) for futures and custody, which we expect to start in July. We’ll provide more details in upcoming posts, but we expect to use UAT to ensure that customers have time to onboard and can test the trading and custody model we’ve built to their satisfaction”.
The CEO then revealed that two types of contracts will be available, a daily and a monthly one. Special tools will be provided to ensure that no abusive behaviour occurs.
Unlike cash-settled futures, offered for example by the Chicago Cboe and CME exchanges, by purchasing physically-settled futures the buyer receives the commodity (in this case bitcoin) when the contract expires rather than the cash equivalent. There will also be a custody service subject to high-security standards. The custody will be supported by insurance, advanced computer security protocols and an anti-money laundering program. Bakkt is working with the New York State Department of Financial Services to become a trust company, a title that gives the right to custody of securities.
In closing, Loeffler revealed that the Bakkt team is constantly expanding. Marc D’Annunzio, a leading figure with years of experience in the sector, is the new general consultant. He will lead the management of the legal, regulatory, compliance and governance aspects of the company.
