The leader of the revolution: What are the prospects for the Bakkt platform?
Apr 23, 2020
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Almost two months have passed since the launch of the site from the operator of the New York Stock Exchange ICE. During this time, its trading volumes grew by thousands of percent, and the company made several important announcements.
Since the end of September, when the platform for institutional investors Bakkt was launched, the cryptocurrency market has changed a lot. Then the value of Bitcoin was above $ 10.000, two days after the site started to operate, on the 25th, it fell to $ 8000, at the end of October it reached $ 7400, and now it is at the level of $ 8700.
The launch of Bakkt was one of the most anticipated developments in the cryptocurrency industry. Investors and traders were counting on it at the end of last year and believed that on this news the Bitcoin exchange rate would start to rise again and reach a historic high of $ 20.000. However, the deadlines were repeatedly postponed, and when it did happen, the effect turned out to be the opposite.
Trading volumes
Perhaps the Bitcoin decline after the start of Bakkt's operation is due to the fact that the site did not live up to expectations: in the first few hours of its operation, the volume of contracts amounted to insignificant 17 BTC, by the end of the day it had risen to 71 BTC. For comparison, at CME, where they trade settlement futures since December 2017, the average daily indicator is about 5534 transactions.
However, after a while, the trading volume at Bakkt began to increase actively. Two weeks after the launch, the number of transactions showed a daily increase of 796% and reached 224 BTC. But even such a volume turned out to be quite low and unconvincing for many experts from the field of digital money.
Fundstrat founder Tom Lee said at the end of October that such trading volumes at Bakkt reflect the real interest of institutional investors in the cryptocurrency industry. Even the most positive-minded expert, who always insisted on the imminent growth of the Bitcoin exchange rate to $ 20.000, said that the market is still too small to update historical highs.
At the same time, Bakkt's trading volumes did not stop rising. In early November, they drew up 1.756 Bitcoin-futures contracts. Since the launch, the indicator has increased by 2370% - a huge increase in 6 weeks.
New products
The company does not stop there. On December 9, Bitcoin options based on the basis of existing monthly futures will appear on the site.
The size of one contract will be equal to one Bitcoin, the commission for the first time will be 0%, but from January 2020 it will increase to $ 1.25 per contract. The platform will feature margin leverage and cross-margin trading.
In addition, the company is preparing to launch Bitcoin futures, which will be calculated in traditional currencies. They promise to submit such contracts before the end of this year, however, specific dates are not yet known.
The most important announcement of Bakkt is a payment application for payment of purchases, which will appear in early 2020. The first partner of the project is the largest chain of Starbucks coffee houses. The platform of the operator of the New York Stock Exchange ICE also has contracts with other companies in the retail sector, in the stores of which it will be possible to pay with digital money.
Perspective
At the moment, the interest of institutional investors in cryptocurrencies remains low. Largely due to the fact that this area is just beginning to develop, its infrastructure is at the initial stage. Companies like Bakkt will solve this problem.
The platform has already launched regulated delivery futures for the first cryptocurrency. Despite the fact that the launch of the project took place less than two months ago, it announced several new products, and trading volumes increased tenfold.
The main thing is that Bakkt really works and develops. Therefore, the next time that Bitcoin starts to grow in price, large investors will have another opportunity to come to the market and start working with digital money. Indeed, the wide distribution of a new type of asset is one of the most important things that is currently lacking.
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The opinions and assessments expressed in the text are the views of the author of the article and may not represent the position of Cryptogeek. Do not forget that investing in cryptocurrencies and trading on the exchange is associated with risk. Before making decisions, be sure to do your own research on the market and the products you are interested in.
Blockchain specialist and crypto advisor. I love cooking, dancing and collecting books. Crypto investor since 2013. Earlier had a career in sales. Political views: Libertarian Right.
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