In what can be termed as the growing interest of institutions in the Bitcoin futures trading, the open interest at Bakkt’s Bitcoin futures market has crossed $1 million mark. Even though Bakkt’s total open interest is still only a fraction of widely used margin trading platforms like BitMEX, which is showing $800 million in total open interest as of today, experts are optimistic about the future of the platform.
The growing open interest at Bakkt, an Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)-backed Bitcoin platform, is of significance as it was launched very recently while platforms like BitMex have been in existence for the last more than five years. The volume of Bakkt already showing signs of a noticeable increase less than three months after its launch suggests that Bitcoin as a store of value is appealing to accredited and institutional investors.
Meanwhile, investors are closely watching the performance of Bakkt as a key platform to facilitate the demand for Bitcoin from accredited and institutional investors. With the involvement of large-scale retailers like Starbucks, Bakkt has the potential to tap into the global consumer market with a Bitcoin integration, which Starbucks is currently working on.
Besides, Bakkt is also the provider of the first physically-backed Bitcoin futures in the US, indicating that contract holders on the platform are delivered with physical Bitcoin. Because of its physically-backed contracts, Bakkt has the potential to affect the price trend of Bitcoin in the long term.
As is always the case, growing interest from institutional investors in any industry signifies a huge capital in-flow. The more money gets in, the more the trading volume. That’s what happening. From an optimistic point of view, it’s fair to expect Bitcoin to gain both in value and popularity as a result of the growing interest from institutional investors.
Meanwhile, the persistently high Bitcoin futures trading volume on Bakkt can be partly attributed to China’s softening stance on cryptocurrency. Some days ago, the Chinese President Xi Jinping had announced his interest in the Blockchain technology and hinted at a possible creation of national digital currency.
Besides, the launch of Bakkt presented big money investors with a safe channel to step into the crypto space without having to worry about the legality of Bitcoin or the risks associated with crypto trading – Bakkt has put in place sufficient contingencies to cater for that.
Get $200 Free Bitcoins every hour! No Deposit No Credit Card required. Sign Up