Launch of Bakkt Might be Postponed due to Regulatory Delays and current US Government Shutdown

[PRIBO247]

News reaching Ethereum World News indicate that the launch of
Bakkt might be postponed for a second time. According to
Coindesk , the parent company of both the New York Stock
Exchange and Bakkt – Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) – is yet
to receive the necessary approvals from the United States
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The report by
Coinbase went on to cite that the speed at which the CFTC is
processing the necessary approvals might not be fast enough for
the anticipated January 24th launch date of Bakkt. Initially,
Bakkt was meant to go live on the 12th of December but had to
be pushed to the January date.

The Delay Might Just Be For a Few Days
However, according to sources privy of the matter, this does not
mean the CFTC will not green-light Bakkt. What it means is that
the launch of the new market might be pushed a few days
forward due to the following two reasons.
Bakkts custody solution for Bitcoin is a first for the CFTC
Current US Government shutdown due to funding for the
US-Mexico border wall

Bakkt’s Custody Solution for BTC Will Need an Exemption from the CFTC
The report by Coinbase went on to explain that the CFTC might
have to give an exemption to ICE for their custody solution of
Bitcoin

[The] CFTC must grant an exemption for Bakkt’s plan to
custody bitcoin on behalf of its clients in its own
“warehouse,” according to sources familiar with regulatory
discussions of the plan. CFTC regulations normally require
that customer funds be held by a bank, trust company or
futures commission merchant (FCM).

Bakkt’s exemption request has already been reviewed by staff at
the CFTC. It has since been forwarded to the commission. The
commission will have to vote to decide whether to put the
proposal out for public comment. The latter process usually
takes 30 days after which the commission takes some time to
read the comments and then vote on the proposal for exemption.

U.S Government Shutdown Might Delay it Further
At the time of writing this, the United States government has
partially shut down as President Trump attempts to negotiate
funding for the wall on the US-Mexico border. As a result of this
impasse, over 50% of 15 federal departments, including State,
Homeland Security, Transportation, Agriculture and Justice are
now partially shut down. The shutdown will most likely affect
the functions of the CFTC further delaying any decision on the
Bakkt exemption request.

https://ethereumworldnews.com/

[Chainsage]

Bakkt is really important in terms of cryptocurrencies' futures. I am curious how it will go.

[PRIBO247]

Very important indeed but this delay will not help things at all.