While news of Bakkt’s launch and intention to facilitate BTC futures trading broke over a year ago, the platform itself has seen numerous delays owing to regulatory concerns.
On Aug. 16 of this year, Bakkt announced that the company had secured approval from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and had scheduled today as the first day of trading.
Bakkt’s physically settled Bitcoin futures trading is now live for trading on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).
New option for traders
As of 8 PM EST on Sept. 22 (00:00 UTC Sept. 23), Bakkt’s much-anticipated BTC futures trading has launched. The platform is the first of its kind to receive approval from United States regulators and is a product of ICE, the operator of the New York Stock Exchange.
What’s new?
While the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board Options Exchange currently offer trading of Bitcoin futures, these trades are cash-settled. Bakkt’s physically settled futures contracts let clients get Bitcoin rather than its equivalent value in fiat currency once the contract expires.
The platform offers daily and monthly trading of physically settled Bitcoin futures, to be processed through Bakkt’s Bitcoin Warehouse, which began processing withdrawals and deposits at the beginning of September. Days later, Bakkt announced that they had secured a $125 million insurance policy protecting Bitcoin stored in their warehouse.
Significance for the crypto world
Bakkt’s platform has been the subject of a great deal of speculation and anticipation. Many commentators believe that physically delivered futures trading of BTC represents a leap forward for institutional acceptance of Bitcoin in particular and crypto in general.
Noted crypto analyst Tom Lee tweeted on Sept. 19 that:
“I am very positive on Bakkt and its ability to improve trust with institutions to crypto.”
Fake Bitcoin Investment Platform From ‘Elon Musk’ Promises 4,000% ROI
Scammers are using fake mainstream news articles to advertise a nonexistent and potentially dangerous Bitcoin investment platform.
“Bitcoin Profit” features fake celebrity interviews
According to the dedicated website used to lure would-be clients, the so-called “Bitcoin Profit” uses celebrity endorsements as part of its marketing strategy.
The site, economicsworlddotinfo, includes testimony from the likes of actress Kate Winslet and Australian businessman Andrew Forrest, also known as Twiggy.
With alleged backing from Richard Branson, Elon Musk and Bill Gates, Bitcoin Profit is one of the more brazen scams to emerge from the cryptocurrency underworld.
Each celebrity has a feature with their photograph, along with a balance sheet of alleged investments in Bitcoin and associated returns.
The balance sheet appears identical for each star, with only the currency symbol changing. In one week alone, perpetrators claim, buying $10,394 worth of BTC netted a return of $421,226 – or 4,110%.
“Categorically false”
Winslet, whom United Kingdom-based daily news outlet the Mirror informed about the scam, subsequently hit back, complaining about the use of her image without permission along with the false statements.
“This misleading promotion is completely disingenuous and categorically false. We are dealing with this through the appropriate channels”, the publication quoted a spokesperson as saying.
Bitcoin Profit is reminiscent of the ongoing scam operations which plague cryptocurrency accounts on Twitter. Fake entities impersonating well-known figures from the industry are attempting to fool novices into participating in fake giveaways.
Scammers continue to exploit the lack of technical understanding around cryptocurrency, with regulators frequently warning about the emergence of new schemes.
