Intercontinental Exchange’s (ICE) new digital asset platform Bakkt has announced an update on Bakkt Bitcoin Daily futures. They have also recently completed their first funding round. The new platform is getting ready to launch in 2019.

Bakkt and institutions might enter the market in 2019

It is now a fact that 2018 was a very bearish year for cryptocurrencies and we have officially entered 2019. Many cryptocurrency leaders say that 2019 might be the year when institutions will enter the cryptocurrency market. Institutions might bring a new wave of adoption. For example, Micheal Novogratz, the founder of Galaxy Investment Partners, stated a while ago that institutional players would enter the market in 2019. He said:

”I think Q1 [or] Q2 if the institutions start coming in, we’ll put in new highs.”

Institutions that are entering the market are no less than TD Ameritrade with its 11 million clients and Fidelity with its 25 million customers. At the moment there are only 5 million active bitcoin wallets. Imagine what 36 million customers from two of the worlds largest institutions will do. Financial institutions such as Nasdaq and Boerse Stuttgart Group will also enter the market and will offer cryptocurrency related products.

If institutions and exchanges bring a few percents of their customers into the cryptocurrency market, it could ignite the next wave.

Bakkt is getting ready

Bakkt stated earlier that they would launch the platform in January 2019. Most recent news states that they have completed their first funding round. Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) created the institutional investor-focused cryptocurrency platform. They have officially raised $182.5 million from 12 partners and investors, according to the news.

The partners and investors in the first round include Boston Consulting Group, CMT Digital, Eagle Seven, Galaxy Digital, Goldfinch Partners, Alan Howard, Horizons Ventures, Intercontinental Exchange, Microsoft’s venture capital arm, M12, Pantera Capital, PayU, the fintech arm of Naspers, and Protocol Ventures.

In December, Bakkt made huge progress, and are finalising needed regulation. Kelly Loeffler, the CEO of Bakkt said:

“We’ll share details as the New Year unfolds. As our COO Adam White and I work through Bakkt’s 2019 objectives, we are focused on opportunities to provide new infrastructure. It includes the industry’s first institutional grade regulated exchange, clearing and warehousing services for physical delivery and storage.”

They also announced an update regarding the timeline. Following consultation with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, ICE Futures U.S., Inc. expects to provide an updated launch timeline in early 2019. An update regarding trading, clearing and warehousing of the Bakkt Bitcoin (USD) Daily Futures Contract. The launch had previously been set for January 24, 2019, but will be amended according to the CFTC’s process and timeline.

Image Source: Flickr”