Could Bakkt’s Launch Cause a Dump in Bitcoin’s Price?

Bakkt has been hyped for some time now, and for a while, it felt like waiting for Godot. Postponement after postponement, we finally received some clarity this year: after being cleared by regulators, Bakkt will open its warehouse and futures trading on Sept. 23. With just over a week away from launch, many traders are speculating: what if, instead of causing a price spike, Bakkt ends up doing the opposite? Is it possible that we could end up being burned similar to how it was when futures trading first opened for Bitcoin on CBOE in Dec 2017? If you remember, Bitcoin crashed soon after futures trading went live.

guys Bakkt won't dump on us right… right guys..

guys…

— saylor moon (@MoonOverlord) September 13, 2019

Bitcoin Optimism is High

However, optimism is still high. After all, Bakkt is the first-ever futures exchange to settle contracts in real, live Bitcoin. That’s a major point of difference. Rather than artificially influencing the price like others Bitcoin futures markets, Bakkt will actually have a quantifiable impact on the cryptocurrency market. Not only will its futures contracts by reflected in actual supply and demand of real Bitcoin, but many believe this could be a gateway for major institutional money to pour in. As one user puts it, the fears of Bakkt causing a Bitcoin price dump may just be traders having trauma over 2017. https://twitter.com/Itallcomestome1/status/1172681302782414849

Bakkt May Have No Impact

What’s most likely is that Bakkt will have zero impact on short-term price movements. Instead, we may just see Bitcoin oscillating between $8,000 and $12,000 until the end of this year, a range which some crypto-analysts have called Bitcoin’s current ‘fair price.’ This just may be the accumulation zone before the next leg up. In short, because we have never had a futures market settled in real Bitcoin before, it’s impossible to tell what the impact will be. Regardless, however, Bakkt will prove itself to be a positive step for the leading cryptocurrency, and a necessary one if it wants to be treated as a legitimate commodity in the mainstream financial world. Do you believe Bakkt’s release on Sept 23 will have an immediate impact on Bitcoin’s price? Let us know your thoughts below in the comments. 

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