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Nasdaq Likely to Launch Bitcoin Futures Contracts by Q1 2019, Crypto Market Bounces Back

According to the latest Bloomberg report on Tuesday, November 27, Nasdaq is planning to launch its Bitcoin Futures contracts by Q1 2019. Citing two people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reports that Nasdaq is working closely with CFTC to get the regulatory approval for its futures contracts. The report reads:

“Nasdaq has been working to satisfy the concerns of the U.S.’s main swaps regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, before launching the contracts, the people said. The New York exchange operator, which was first reported to be eyeing Bitcoin futures last year, wants to allow trading in the first quarter of 2019, one of the people said.”

Nasdaq’s plans about Bitcoin futures are not new or fresh. Last year November 2017, CoinSpeaker reported that Nasdaq can likely launch its futures contracts by Q2 2019. However, things did not proceed accordingly. Apart from Bitcoin Futures, Nasdaq has shown interest to participate in the crypto market several times. Earlier in April 2018, Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman expressed interest in launching a crypto exchange, provided the market is regulated. She said:

“Over time, if it ultimately does morph into a regulated environment, it does give us an opportunity to participate as a marketplace, but I think that is a long road and it doesn’t have a certain path right now”.

The latest news coming from CoinDesk’s Consensus. Invest conference shows that Nasdaq and VanEck have joined hands for bringing new crypto financial products to the market. VanEck’s director of digital asset strategy – Gabor Gurbacs announced to bring “a regulated crypto 2.0 futures-type contract”.

Gurbacs said that the regulated futures contracts by Nasdaq shall be an upgrade to the already existing ones. Gurbacs also mentioned that they would leverage Nasdaq’s SMART surveillance technology to prevent suspicious market activities. Furthermore, they will use trusted pricing benchmarks by MVIS to “inspire confidence with regulators and institutions trying to get involved [in the crypto markets]”.

However, the natures of the Bitcoin futures contract is still a surprise. Meaning whether it will be cash-settled or physically-settled. Gurbacs awaits an exciting Q1 for 2019 ahead. He hinted that “there’s lots to look forward to in 2019″. “We believe that 2018 was the year of regulation and 2019 will be the year of implementation,” he added.

Soon as the new popped out yesterday, the cryptocurrency market has made a healthy recovery. According to the price table, Bitcoin (BTC) and all major altcoins have recovered between 5-10%.

At the press time, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $4050 with a 7.9% increase in the last 24-hours. With today’s recovery, Bitcoin’s market cap has surged past $70 billion. Well, investors are since long waiting for a positive news to stop the crypto market sloth over the last few weeks.

Hope that today’s recovery is sustainable while making a new base at these levels and stating a northward journey further.

According to the existing plans, two big behemoths – Nasdaq and Bakkt – of the global financial space will launch Bitcoin Futures in Q1 2019. It means that the two big giants will lock horns in the crypto futures markets. However, this is a great news for investors as these giants call pull huge institutions to the crypto space. A flood of institutional money will certainly help to bring back the lost glory of the crypto market.

NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) announced the launch of Bakkt platform in August this year. Bakkt platform basically aims to provide a seamless global network for crypto trading and other activities. This integrated platform enables consumers, merchants, and institutional clients to buy, sell, store, and spend digital assets.

Last month in October, ICE announced to launch the Bakkt Bitcoin Futures Contracts by the year-end. However, this was subject to the regulatory approval. Bakkt’s Bitcoin Futures Contracts are physically-settled.

“Each futures contract calls for delivery of one bitcoin held in the Bakkt Digital Asset Warehouse and will trade in U.S. dollars and others. One daily contract will be listed for trading each Exchange Business Day”.

Last week, Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffler announced that there is a delay in the launch which will now take place on Jan. 24, 2019. Loeffler provided a complete explanation behind this delay.

“Given the volume of interest in Bakkt and work required to get all of the pieces in place, we will now be targeting January 24, 2019 for our launch to ensure that our participants are ready to trade on Day 1,” she said.

Nasdaq Likely to Launch Bitcoin Futures Contracts by Q1 2019, Crypto Market Bounces Back

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