A new startup out of New York called LedgerX LLC has recruited big financial-industry names to its board of directors and raised venture funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Google Ventures and others to add a dose of legitimacy to the bitcoin market.

LedgerX hopes to become the country’s first bitcoin options exchange with Uncle Sam’s blessing. It submitted applications to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, which regulates U.S. futures and options exchanges, in late September to be approved as a...