Physical Bitcoin Futures Are Coming to Asia First in February. CoinFLEX plans to debut physically-settled Bitcoin futures to the Asian market beginning in February 2019. The platform is a consortium with participants such as Roger Ver (Bitcoin.com CEO), B2C2, Trading Technologies, and Alameda Research among others. The CME EFP Bitcoin transaction, facilitated by E D & F Man Capital Markets, a registered futures commission merchant, and itBit, an institutional-grade cryptocurrency exchange, saw two institutional traders swap a position in CME’s bitcoin futures market for an equivalent amount of the “physical” asset itself. However, LedgerX has beaten Bakkt to the punch after officially launching the first physically settled bitcoin futures contracts today, July 31, 2019. The new product allows U.S. residents to trade futures contracts in exchange for real bitcoin (the “physical” commodity) so long as they have a government-issued ID.