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The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and its Bakkt platform have officially confirmed the forthcoming launch of the cash-settled Bitcoin (BTC) futures contracts and set a launch date for December 9. In an official news release, ICE confirms and reveals that the contract will be listed on the ICE Futures Singapore as of that date.

Known as the operator behind 23 leading global exchanges including the New York Stock Exchange, ICE confirms that Bakkt had its sights on a cash-settled option. This was first admitted by the Bakkt COO Adam White, who told the media that an option like this was in the making before.

The announcement from today officially confirms the details leaked to the press by insider sources. What we know so far from them is that the contract will be cleared by the ICE Clear Singapore and has sealed approval from the city state and its de facto central bank and financial regulator – the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

ICE confirms the launch in the Bitcoin news now but also outlines that the new Bakkt Bitcoin Cash Settled Monthly Futures will be settled against data from its existing physically delivered Bakkt Bitcoin (USD) Monthly Futures contract – which is a pioneering product that was the first to give futures traders direct exposure to the underlying cryptocurrency.

We can also see that ICE Singapore published details of the contract specifications and proposed rule changes and invited the parties to submit comments on these by November 29. While the physically delivered contract by Bakkt was almost unanimously hailed by the crypto community and seen by the industry as a milestone – social media responses to the Adam White retweet as ICE confirms the news on Twitter has been even more popular.

The first cash settled #bitcoin futures contract with a settlement price exclusively from a regulated market coming Dec 9th via @ICE_Markets and @Bakkt Details here: https://t.co/cqaOI9606f

— Adam White (@WhiteAdamL) November 22, 2019

For now, the cash-settled Bitcoin futures have been trading since December 2017 on both CME and CBOE. They have managed to draw a lot of suspicion and some even contended that the Bitcoin price is vulnerable to manipulation in advance of contract settlements.

Meanwhile, the crypto news today show a lot of vulnerabilities and a further drop which positioned Bitcoin in the $7,500 region – marking another 4-week low and dragging other altcoins down with it.