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Bakkt, a subsidiary of New York Stock Exchange owner Intercontinental Exchange Inc (NYSE: ICE), launched its long-awaited physically backed Bitcoin futures Monday.
The first Bakkt/ICE futures contract changed hands at $10,115 and the number of contracts in the first hour stood at just five total, CoinDesk reported.
It's widely belived in the crypto market that Bakkt's launch could open the floodgates for institutional money.
It's a different environment than December 2017, when the CME Group Inc (NASDAQ: CME) and the Chicago Board Options Exchange first initiated BTC futures trading and prices peaked at an all-time high of $20,000.
On Friday, CME Group announced it will launch options on its Bitcoin futures contracts in the first quarter of 2020 due to client demand.
Price Action
Bitcoin prices have dropped on the back of Bakkt launch. BTC was trading down 1.72% at $9,739.25 at the time of publication.
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