ICE'S BAKKT delays bitcoin futures launch

Intercontinental Exchange’s bitcoin futures trading platform is delaying its formal launch.

Announced Tuesday via a company blog post, Bakkt’s first product, unveiled in August, has now been postponed to Jan. 24, 2019. Trading and warehouse operations are both expected to begin on that date.

The platform explained that “the new listing timeframe will provide additional time for customer and clearing member onboarding prior to the start of trading and warehousing of the new contract.”

In an announcement on Medium, Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffler expanded on this statement, saying that the “volume of interest” in the company and the “work required to get all the pieces in place” contributed to the delay.