NYSE Operator’s Bakkt Confirms End of January Launch Date For Digital Assets Platform

The Bakkt digital assets platform, which was created by the operator of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), announced in a Medium post today, Nov. 24, that they are now “targeting” Jan. 24, 2019 as a launch date.

The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), operator of 23 leading global exchanges including the NYSE, announced the creation of Bakkt in August of this year.

Today’s Medium post notes that “given the volume of interest in Bakkt and work required to get all of the pieces in place,” the company has settled on the Jan. 24, 2019 start date in order to “ensure that our participants are ready to trade on Day 1.”

Bakkt’s Medium post, written by CEO Kelly Loeffler, continues by noting that the company is working closely with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as they review the “Bakkt™ Bitcoin Daily Futures contract and the Bakkt Warehouse,” adding:

“These products represent a critical shift in the evolution of crypto markets toward more accessible, useful, and regulated instruments.”

The post concludes by sharing that Bakkt has “insurance for bitcoin in cold storage” and is currently in the process of “securing insurance for the warm wallet within the Bakkt Warehouse architecture,” adding that  “new features” will be shared in the upcoming weeks.

At the end of October, ICE had announced that they would list Bakkt Bitcoin (USD) Daily Futures Contracts for trading on Dec. 12, 2018, and that the product would be physically-settled and cleared by ICE Clear U.S., Inc. More recently, unconfirmed rumors reported that U.S. regulators could approve Bakkt’s physically delivered futures product as soon as the beginning of November.