Bakkt Warehouse, a qualified custodian of crypto trading platform Bakkt, is now accepting customer Bitcoin (BTC) deposits and withdrawals. First physical BTC futures on the way As the company tweeted on Sept. 6, Bakkt Warehouse has officially launched in accordance with the plans revealed on Aug. 28. The launch of Bakkt Warehouse comes as the company prepares to roll out its platform for Bitcoin daily and monthly futures in the United States on Sept. 23. The platform will enable two types of physically-delivered Bitcoin futures with end-to-end regulated markets and custody, as previously reported. According to a Bloomberg report, Bakkt …

Update: The original article was updated to include a Binance spokesperson’s response. Bitcoin futures offerings from cryptocurrency exchange Binance have come in for criticism as a pre-release tester identifies major flaws. Rocky start for Binance PR move In a series of tweets on Sept. 6, the account known as doublejump said both the options currently under consideration by Binance lacked basic features, which are essential for ease of use. As Cointelegraph reported, Binance has released two separate versions of its futures trading platform for testing by users, and plans to reward those who test and correctly vote for the winner. …

Bakkt clients will be able to start depositing their funds in the Bakkt Warehouse for physically delivered Bitcoin (BTC) futures starting Sept. 6. Bakkt to debut futures trading on Sept. 23 On Aug. 28, the much-anticipated crypto trading platform Bakkt announced on Twitter that its qualified custodian, Bakkt Warehouse, will begin offering storage of customer’s Bitcoin in early September. Storage will start weeks before the scheduled launch of its platform for daily and monthly crypto futures in the United States on Sept. 23. The platform will enable physical delivery of Bitcoin with end-to-end regulated markets and custody. The Bakkt Warehouse, …

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group’s Bitcoin (BTC) futures saw an average daily volume of $515 million in May 2019. Forbes reports on Aug. 28 that the CME Group’s Bitcoin futures are seeing new records in trading activity. CME Group’s managing director Tim McCourt said that in May, Bitcoin futures were, “trading an average of more than 13,600 contracts each day, equal to ~$515 million in notional value or 68K equivalent bitcoins.” Record trading volumes McCourt also noted that, on May 13, Bitcoin traded a record daily volume of 33,677 contracts, equivalent to over 168,000 BTC ($1.705 billion as of …

Bitcoin (BTC) price was still testing support at $10,000 on Aug. 27 as all eyes began focusing on the upcoming futures expiration set for Friday. Market visualization. Source: Coin360 Bitcoin price retests five-figure support Data from Coin360 showed a fresh dip for BTC/USD over the past 24 hours, with markets dropping from local highs of $10,400 to bounce at around $10,100. Bitcoin remains down around 6% versus the same time last week, having reversed all but 6% of its monthly gains which briefly saw the largest cryptocurrency pass $12,000. Bitcoin 7-day price chart. Source: Coin360 Now, commentators expect Friday’s CME …

Dutch crypto derivatives exchange Deribit launched a block trading solution in partnership with American trading communication platform Paradigm. World’s first block trading tool for crypto derivatives The institutional block trading solution is reportedly the first one of its kind offered by a crypto-derivatives exchange, the firms said in a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Aug. 22. The new block trading solution intends to enable institutions to directly negotiate crypto-derivative trades via chat on Paradigm, while agreed information is automatically directed to Deribit for execution and clearing. What are block trades? Block trades are privately negotiated transactions in futures or …

Bakkt has announced the coming launch of its much-anticipated platform for daily and monthly futures in the United States in a blog post on Aug. 16. Having received approval from the necessary regulators, the launch is scheduled for Sept. 23. Bakkt’s physically delivered futures have been the subject of a great deal of anticipation, with the company initially announcing its launch August 2018 before being subject to repeated delays over compliance issues. Satisfying the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has proven particularly challenging. The company began testing in earnest on July 22, as Cointelegraph reported at the time. Per the …

Amir Zaidi, the director of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC’s) Division of Market Oversight (DMO), is rumored to be leaving the CFTC within weeks. Multiple anonymous sources aware of the situation have confirmed this claim, according to a report by Bloomberg Law on Aug. 8. Zaidi has been the director of the CFTC’s DMO since January 2017. He is acknowledged as being responsible for creating Bitcoin (BTC) futures trading policy, as well as rewriting market regulations for over-the-counter swaps. One source added that former DMO director Vincent McGonagle is expected to reprise his role as an acting …

A company has set out its ambition of becoming the world’s number one exchange for cryptocurrency derivatives — placing an emphasis on fairness, transparency and ease of use for all levels of traders. According to BitOrb, current platforms are too complicated for everyday crypto enthusiasts — with high fees, system performance issues and a lack of regulations occasionally resulting in market manipulation. Despite all of this, the crypto derivatives market is booming — with billions of dollars of trading volume registered every single day. Filling the gap BitOrb plans to focus on futures contracts and says its platform will be …

Gibraltar-based crypto derivatives exchange Quedex has secured a license from the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC). Quedex claims to be the world’s first regulated crypto futures and options exchange Quedex was granted a Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) Providers licence for providing services of trading crypto derivatives such as Bitcoin (BTC) futures, as well as crypto custodial services, the firm said in a blog post on July 31. Following the license acquisition, Quedex reportedly became the world’s first regulated crypto futures and options exchange, the firm stressed in the announcement. In order to secure the DLT license, Quedex worked with Gibraltar …

Update: 10:15a.m. EST: The CFTC has reportedly confirmed that LedgerX’s physically-settled bitcoin futures product has not yet been approved by the Commission. United States Bitcoin (BTC) derivatives provider LedgerX has officially launched physical Bitcoin futures trading, becoming the first to do so on the domestic market. In an announcement on social media July 31, LedgerX said its physical futures offering was live on its Omni trading platform. “It's official: we're live with retail trading on Omni!” officials confirmed. Physical Bitcoin futures differ from those offered by some of the first operators in 2017. Rather than merely gaining exposure to Bitcoin, …

United States cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has hired the ex-managing director of over-the-counter (OTC) trading platform B2C2 to head of development at its new Bitcoin futures operation. Kevin Beardsley, who previously led the United Kingdom-based company for a year, will now oversee Kraken Futures’ expansion as volumes hit $2.5 billion in June. Beardsley confirmed the news linking to comments he made to cryptocurrency news outlet The Block. “Being a pretty wide range of different types of participants, I have a pretty good understanding of what people are looking for and how to meet those needs,” he said. Kraken acquired its futures …