The Bakkt bitcoin trading system is disadvantageous and overly cumbersome compared to the well-known BitMEX trading platform and other unregulated exchanges.
Su Zhu, CEO of Three Arrows Capital, gave five main reasons why Bakkt, the platform covered by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), lags behind stock exchanges such as BitMEX and Deribit.
Had lunch w the largest shareholder of ICE last week. He asked why Bakkt isn't gaining more market share vs Bitmex, Deribit, etc.
— Su Zhu (@zhusu) February 9, 2020
I said:
1) over-reliant on clearing brokers
2) can't margin in BTC
3) can't trade 24/7
4) can't trade infinitesimal sizes
5) 10x more expensive
The Bakkt remains in the background
The project has not yet been able to approach the unregulated derivatives market, at least in terms of trading volumes, even though it was under the wing of the NYSE owner.
The reliance on clearing brokers and the lack of leverage at BTC dampens the enthusiasm of traders. The list of disadvantages does not end here. In addition to being ten times more expensive, Bakkt does not allow trading small amounts of BTC.
Summary
Yet the Chicago-based CME Group seems to be doing well, with futures volumes exploding since early 2020. However, the results are still not close to BitMEX or Deribit. We will see how the development will continue.
