Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has appointed Kelly Loeffler, CEO of institutional Bitcoin futures platform Bakkt, to a United States Senate seat. With the appointment, Loeffler will replace Sen. Johnny Isakson, who plans to retire at the end of the year, the Washington Post reported on Dec.

4. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, various party leaders, including President Donald Trump, reportedly pressed Kemp to choose U.S. representative Doug Collins instead, purportedly given his strong support for Trump, gun rights and anti-abortion efforts.

Previously, Kemp reportedly met with the President and Loeffler in a bid to obtain Trump's approval of his pick for the Senate seat but to no avail. In the meantime, Bitcoin futures open interest on the Bakkt platform hit a new all-time high of $6.5 million on Dec. 3.

Bakkt is planning to launch the first regulated options contract for Bitcoin futures on Dec. 9. "ICE Futures U.S.

has self-certified the contract with the CFTC and we're excited to leverage the benchmark futures prices and institutional-grade custody to meet the needs for a regulated options contract..