The continued delay of Bakkt and its impact

The vision for Bakkt was unveiled about six months ago by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and since then the long-awaited Bitcoin futures market is still waiting for regulatory approval.

The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange initially planned to launch Bakkt in December, before returning in late January. On New Year's Eve, the launch was delayed indefinitely, the CIE claiming that its previous goal "Will be modified in accordance with CFTC process and schedule."

It is March 2019 and the first quarter of the year is nearing its end. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has not yet made public the exemption proposed by Bakkt. This means that even if the proposal were released today, the launch would not take place until April, because the commissioners have to give the audience thirty days and then take a little more time to read the comments before making a decision. approve the idea.

The proposal would allow Bakkt to keep Bitcoin on the platform, but by the end of February, the idea was still being reviewed by the CFTC's Market Surveillance Division, two officials said.

The government closed on December 22 and lasted about five weeks. This has created a lot of backlogs at the CFTC and other agencies have certainly not solved the problem. By catching up, the agency has prioritized other issues, mostly not related to cryptocurrency. This includes more than half a dozen performance measures announced since the end of the shutdown.

That being said, the ambitious nature of Bakkt's business plan is also likely to be a determining factor in the process.

Adam White, Bakkt's COO, explained in general terms the work of the exchange with the regulators and suggested to his team to recognize the need to be patient.

White says:

"It's not the world in which you fill an app, you throw it over the fence and you hope to get it back in order to start your business. It is a partnership and a collaboration with the regulators to help them understand what is difficult, what is a deep chain, why a blockchain or a public blockchain may be sufficient and capable whereas the other one is not. That's really the approach we've taken. "