New Report Shows NASDAQ And Its Plans To Launch A Bitcoin Futures Market

In the latest Bitcoin news, we have the second largest stock exchange in the world, Nasdaq, and its plans to introduce a Bitcoin futures market in the first quarter of 2019. According to sources close to Bloomberg, Nasdaq has been working with the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in order to receive the regulatory approval that will make it an official Bitcoin futures market operator.

The report read the following:

“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.”

Meanwhile, Bakkt, which is a cryptocurrency exchange built by ICE (the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange) is also expected to launch a Bitcoin market – officially on January 24th.

However, the company has recently delayed the listing of Bitcoin futures citing the unforeseen increase for its futures product – and saying that it needs additional time to prepare the infrastructure needed to serve a large group of investors from the United States.

“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,” the announcement by Bakkt read.

The stance and concerns of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are now in the focus, mostly because this organization denied exchange-traded funds (ETFs) based on the futures market, which the SEC sees as not of significant size to handle large-scale investment vehicles.