Bakkt to start testing futures product on July 22, and it's eyeing $100 million insurance for storing assets

Testing of Bakkt's long-awaited bitcoin futures product is set to start July 22, according to a blog post penned by its chief operating officer Adam White. 

"On July 22, two days after Apollo 11’s 50th anniversary, Bakkt will initiate user acceptance testing for its bitcoin futures listed and traded at ICE Futures U.S. and cleared at ICE Clear US," White said, in the astronaut-themed post. 

The physically-delivered futures product was originally set to go live at the end of 2018 but has been set back by regulatory hurdles. Still, White says Bakkt's solution addresses the market pain points elsewhere in the nascent cryptocurrency market. 

For instance, the firm is looking to become a qualified custodian (via a trust license) with $100 million in insurance to remedy concerns around the storage of the digital assets tied to its product.

"Subject to regulatory approval, Bakkt's limited purpose trust company will serve as a qualified custodian for bitcoin, will operate separately from ICE's futures exchange, will be insured for $100M, and will have separate governance," according to the blog post.