With Bitcoin exchange-traded funds [ETF] still awaiting approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, derivatives have become the product of choice for most Bitcoiners. The highly anticipated Bitcoin derivatives platform, Bakkt, finally launched this year and it has since noted record trading volumes.
Bakkt’s delayed launch might be the reason for its measured start. However, it picked up the pace with contact volume and open positions. According to Bobby Ong, Co-founder of CoinGecko, the slow and steady practice is more notable in traditional exchanges, than in native crypto-exchanges. He also noted that among cryptocurrency exchanges, ‘only Deribit is the largest options platform.’
However, Bakkt is still a part of the derivatives race, but with the growing market, users have been speculating a strange inverse connection between the price of BTC and its Futures trading. This theory started to gain strength after the much-awaited Bakkt launched this year and Bitcoin, instead of surging, slumped. In an exclusive interview with AMBCrypto, Bobby Ong commented on the theory and said,
“This is probably one factor but I think there are other reasons in play too. There is usually heavy price volatility each time we lead to CME’s contract expiry on the last Friday of the month at 4pm London time.”
However, soon the speculation was put to rest as Bakkt Bitcoin Futures’ Open Interest hit an all-time high of $6.54 million on 3 December. Even since Bakkt launched in September, the trading volume on the platform has broken records and noted an ATH, in terms of daily volumes of over $42.5 million or 4,443 BTC. Kelly Loeffler, Bakkt’s CEO, is also on his way to serving in the US Senate and as per Ong, it will help change the perception of Bitcoin and crypto among other members.
He concluded,
“We will have someone who understands Bitcoin well sitting in the US senate to help educate the other senators & politicians.”
