LedgerX Launches First Regulated Bitcoin Futures on American Market

After being approved by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in June, LedgerX softly launched its OMNI platform last week and has now fully deployed it to both institutional and retail clients.

It is proposed to use U.S. dollars or bitcoins to purchase LedgerX contracts. The ability to use Bitcoin as collateral removes the need for customers to wait for the banking system to process their deposits and other restrictions.

Thus, the launch of delivery futures for LedgerX Bitcoin was possible earlier than the owner of the New York Stock Exchange's crypto-platform Bakkt. The latter, however, intends to obtain a trust license, while LedgerX has licenses for specialized contract market (DCM) and clearing center for derivatives (DCO). According to experts, this means that LedgerX contracts must have full collateral, so they will not be available for margin trading, notes The Block.

LedgerX was founded in 2014 and began providing options and Bitcoin swaps with physical delivery to institutional investors in 2017. The company applied for a license to expand its CFTC operations last November.

In addition to LedgerX and Bakkt, the ErisX platform, sponsored by the broker TD Ameritrade, plans to enter the market with a similar offer. It, like LedgerX, has received the necessary approval from the CFTC, but has yet to announce the launch date of its products.