Breaking: What Crypto Winter? Nasdaq to Launch Bitcoin Futures Market

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The world’s second largest stock exchange Nasdaq is planning to
introduce a Bitcoin futures market within the first quarter of 2019.
Sources told Bloomberg that Nasdaq has been cooperating with
the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to
receive regulatory approval to operate as a compliant
cryptocurrency futures market operator.

The report read: “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.”

What Impact Will Nasdaq Plus Bakkt Have on Bitcoin?

Bakkt, a cryptocurrency exchange built by ICE, the parent company
of the New York Stock Exchange, is expected to launch its Bitcoin
futures market on January 24.

On November 20, the company delayed the listing of Bitcoin
futures citing an unforeseen increase in demand for its futures
product. Bakkt stated that it needs additional time to prepare the
infrastructure that is required to serve a large group of investors
based in the US.

“ICE Futures U.S., Inc. will list the new Bakkt Bitcoin (USD) Daily
Futures Contract for trading on trade date Thursday, January 24,
2019, subject to regulatory approval. The new listing timeframe
will provide additional time for customer and clearing member
onboarding prior to the start of trading and warehousing of the
new contract,” Bakkt announced.

Currently, the demand from institutional investors for crypto can
only be evaluated through the numbers that Bakkt , Fidelity Digital
Assets , Goldman Sachs, BitGo Custody, Coinbase Custody, and
other major over-the-counter (OTC) markets can provide.

The entrance of Nasdaq in a long-lasting bear market and
downtrend suggests that the company sees sufficient institutional
demand from the U.S. market. A conglomerate in the size of
Nasdaq does not allocate a large portion of its resources to
develop an infrastructure for a new asset class unless it is certain
that the demand for it will grow over time.

Depending on the delivery of Nasdaq’s plans, by the second
quarter of 2019, the cryptocurrency market could have Nasdaq and
NYSE , two of the largest stock exchanges, in the global market
operating Bitcoin futures markets.

Bakkt physically delivers Bitcoin to its investors and as such, it
could have an actual impact on the supply of Bitcoin and
ultimately its price. The intricacies of Nasdaq’s plans remain
unclear but the two markets could lead to an increase in additional
liquidity for the asset.

SEC’s Concerns

Since August, when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) denied exchange-traded funds (ETFs) based on the futures
market, the commission consistently stated that the futures
market is simply not of significant size to handle large-scale
investment vehicles.
In the next 6 to 12 months, the stance of the SEC towards the
Bitcoin futures market could change if Bakkt and Nasdaq
demonstrate real demand from local investors.

Source : https://www.ccn.com