{"id":20716,"date":"2018-12-31T22:46:45","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T22:46:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ci027cfe77b0052697"},"modified":"2018-12-31T22:46:45","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T22:46:45","slug":"bitcoins-institutionalization-dates-watch-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/markets\/bitcoins-institutionalization-dates-watch-2019","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin\u2019s Institutionalization: Dates to Watch in 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It\u2019s been over a year since the Cboe and CME listed the world\u2019s first bitcoin futures contracts, the first ever bitcoin investment product to hit the legacy market. Both futures went live just before bitcoin peaked at its $20,000 all-time high. Out-the-gate trading for the derivatives reflected 2017\u2019s market mania, and Cboe\u2019s futures alone traded over 800 contracts<\/a> (roughly $12,000,000 at the time) within the first two hours of their launch.<\/p>\n

With the creation of these markets, the euphoric anticipation of bitcoin\u2019s debut on Wall Street conjured up delusions of grandeur. The seemingly unstoppable asset, which had transcended all-time high after all-time high with ease all throughout the 2017 holiday season, was on the cusp of receiving its largest flush of capital yet.<\/p>\n

Cue 2018 and the bear.<\/p>\n

Now, bitcoin is down about 80 percent from its all-time high. Its introduction into mainstream institutional markets obviously did not send us to a new paradigm, and some in the community even believe that the futures invited the opposite effect \u2014 that they were the cause of the crash<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2018 was not the year of institutionalization that some bitcoin investors hoped that it would be. Instead, it\u2019s been a Sisyphean struggle to give Wall Street an easier in, perhaps best exemplified by the industry\u2019s repeated trial and failure to get an ETF approved by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).<\/p>\n

Still, there are a handful of outstanding deadlines and tentative launch dates that could make 2019 the actual year that bitcoin makes headway in the institutional investment scene. The products related to these deadlines include two futures offerings and VanEck\u2019s long-anticipated bitcoin ETF<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For these products, here are some dates to look out for and a brief explanation of how they work.<\/p>\n

ICE\u2019s Bakkt: January 24, 2019<\/h3>\n

The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the New York Stock Exchange\u2019s parent company, first announced<\/a> Bakkt in August of this year. Described \u201cas a scalable on-ramp for institutional, merchant and consumer participation<\/a> in digital assets\u201d by its CEO Kelly Loefller, the platform was pitched as a crypto payment solution with an added bonus: physically delivered futures contracts.<\/p>\n

Unlike current futures products offered by the Cboe and CME, which are not physically delivered and settled in cash, Bakkt\u2019s contracts would be settled in kind with bitcoin. Originally anticipated to launch in November of 2018, the platform has been delayed<\/a> until the tentative date of January 24, 2019.<\/p>\n

Bakkt\u2019s team delayed the launch to hammer out customer onboarding and work with regulators on approval. It should be noted that, as of this writing, Bakkt has not received regulatory approval from the United States Commodities and Futures Trade Commission (CFTC) to list the futures.<\/p>\n

VanEck\/SolidX Bitcoin ETF: February 27, 2019<\/h3>\n

Fewer institutional grade investment products have bathed in the industry limelight quite like the VanEck and SolidX bitcoin exchange traded fund (ETF)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The latest in a slew of attempts by various actors to offer the world\u2019s first bitcoin ETF, the VanEck SolidX Bitcoin Trust is the only bitcoin ETF introduced in 2018 whose filing hasn\u2019t been decided on by the SEC. Unlike most of its 2018 predecessors, the ETF would source its prices from the bitcoin spot market \u2014 not the Cboe and CME futures markets.<\/p>\n

The SEC has delayed its decision<\/a> on the VanEck SolidX ETF twice, but come February 27, 2018, it will have to make a decision, though in reality one could come sooner than this.<\/p>\n

In addition to this ETF, the SEC will also have to make its final decision on nine other ETFs<\/a> which, after being rejected at the staffing level, were appealed for review by the commission. At the time of publication, no dates have been disclosed for when this decision might take place.<\/p>\n

Nasdaq\u2019s Bitcoin Futures: Q1 of 2019<\/h3>\n

Nasdaq teased the prospect of launching its own bitcoin futures<\/a> throughout 2018, and, as we head into 2019, the exchange is looking to make good on its promises.<\/p>\n

But these promises are still a bit nebulous. The exchange hasn\u2019t released many details regarding how the futures will operate, nor has it given much information on the launch date. We do know that their tentative launch date is expected to fall in Q1 of 2019, and Nasdaq has partnered with VanEck to source prices with VanEck\u2019s MVIS Bitcoin Index<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Like Bakkt\u2019s own futures, Nasdaq has yet to receive the greenlight from the CFTC to list the futures.<\/p>\n

Photo by<\/em>Scott Webb<\/em><\/a> on<\/em>Unsplash<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A bitcoin ETF and two new futures offerings are (tentatively) on the docket for 2019 \u2014 here are the dates to keep an eye on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3468,"featured_media":20717,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[2022,586,944,867,2130,1248,340,183,3284,547],"class_list":{"0":"post-20716","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-markets","8":"tag-bakkt","9":"tag-cboe","10":"tag-etf","11":"tag-futures","12":"tag-ice","13":"tag-institutional-investors","14":"tag-nasdaq","15":"tag-sec","16":"tag-solidx","17":"tag-vaneck"},"author_data":{"id":3468,"name":"Aaron Van Wirdum And Colin Harper","nicename":"aaron-van-wirdum-and-colin-harper","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88b6c65a7515990786b1c04473e15469e5b0d0fffef947ed629a60854e1cb426?s=96&d=robohash&r=g"},"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/bitcoins-institutionalization-dates-to-watch-in-2019.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3468"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}