Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)-lead institutional cryptocurrency trading platform Bakkt is considering acquiring a New York BitLicense to launch its bitcoin futures, Bloomberg reports on April 18. Bakkt has seen resistance from the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to approve its bitcoin futures because of its intentions to custody user’s assets. Bloomberg quotes anonymous sources familiar with the situation, stating that to ease the concerns of the regulator, the company is considering acquiring a license from New York financial regulators. The CFTC recognizes state bank and trust licenses and could potentially allow the listing of futures if Bakkt obtained a …

A former engineering executive at PayPal and Google will join the team behind the institutional digital asset platform Bakkt, the firm’s CEO Kelly Loeffler announced in a blog post on Medium on April 11. With over 25 years of experience in digital payments, engineering, strategy and operations, Mike Blandina has joined Bakkt as its chief product officer (CPO). As the new CPO of Bakkt, Blandina will lead the firm’s efforts to converge a trusted ecosystem for digital assets with payments use cases in order to help Bakkt bring real applications to Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies, the announcement notes. Blandina …

Kelly Loeffler, the CEO of institutional trading platform Bakkt, announced that former cybersecurity expert at IBM, Cisco and Endgame Tom Noonan will become the chairman of its board of directors. The development was reported in a Medium post published on March 29. Per the announcement, the founder, chairman and CEO of the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and chairman of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Jeff Sprecher is also joining the board of directors of the company. Alongside him, the post further welcomes Softbank managing partner Akshay Naheta and managing partner at Goldfinch Partners Sean Collins to the board. Loeffler notes …

Top Stories This Week Six Global Banks Sign Up to Issue Stablecoins on IBM’s Now-Live Blockchain Network This week, six international banks signed letters of intent to issue their own stablecoins — which will be backed by their national fiat currencies — on IBM’s now-live blockchain-powered payments network, “World Wire.” According to the joint announcement by IBM and Stellar, the World Wire has gone live with over 44 banks on its service, supporting 47 currencies in 72 countries. The IBM project was launched with Stellar in September 2018, and plans to expand the blockchain-powered settlement network to further assets. The …

United States regulator the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is actively working to approve multiple crypto-related applications, including for Bitcoin (BTC) futures from institutional trading platform Bakkt. A CFTC commissioner revealed the news in remarks to cryptocurrency news network Blocktv in an interview on March 19. Answering a question about the status of Bakkt’s application, which has seen multiple delays, commissioner Dan Berkovitz avoided a direct update on the project, instead saying that the CFTC was trying to assist all cryptocurrency-related products in obtaining the necessary approval for launch in the U.S. “We have a very interactive process with all …

Much-anticipated crypto platform Bakkt’s plans to store customers’ Bitcoin (BTC) from its Bitcoin futures could cause further delay on obtaining approval from United States regulator the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The news was reported by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on March 21, citing anonymous sources. When Bakkt was first announced back in August, the platform had revealed that its first product would be Bitcoin futures that are physically delivered daily, subject to CFTC approval. Bakkt also said that it planned to hold Bitcoin on behalf of its clients via its “physical warehousing.” According to “people familiar with the …

Intercontinental Exchange’s to-be-launched institutional trading platform Bakkt has earned a $740 million valuation after it raised over $180 million in funding last year, anonymous sources told cryptocurrency industry news outlet The Block on March 21. Bakkt, which has yet to launch any investment products and continues to liaise with regulators, could increase its valuation even further should it raise further funds. At the same time, the sources said questions among investors remained about their risk-return ratio, given Bakkt has yet to get the official go-ahead to launch and will operate on different terms from traditional platforms. “From a cash-flow perspective, …

Top Stories This Week Research: ‘Free’ Electricity for Students Makes College Campuses Major Crypto Miners According to research from tech conglomerate Cisco, college campuses are the second-largest crypto miners across industry verticals. The researchers investigated crypto mining activities across a variety of industries, finding that university campuses are ranked the second-biggest miners of digital currency at 22 percent, with the energy and utilities sector in first at around 34 percent. According to the research, the increasing mining difficulty for many cryptocurrency means that a higher amount electricity is needed, making it profitable for students to mine since the university pays …

New details about Starbucks’ partnership with United States cryptocurrency platform Bakkt suggest the coffee giant will accept Bitcoin (BTC)-based payments after an equity deal, cryptocurrency industry news outlet The Block reported on Mar. 4. Starbucks, which became known as a founding partner in Bakkt upon its unveiling in August last year, will reportedly support its software to allow U.S. customers to pay for products. As The Block reported, no actual cryptocurrency will end up processed by the chain, as the crypto will be instantly transferred into fiat. Still in the final pre-release stages, Bakkt aims to become a major on-ramp …

Last week, the CEO of the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) said that the firm’s digital asset platform, Bakkt, is expected to launch later in 2019. It is time to look deeper into the project, and see what it can bring to the crypto industry. What is Bakkt exactly? Bakkt (pronounced “backed,” referring to “asset-backed securities”) is a digital assets platform created by ICE, the Atlanta-based operator of 23 major international exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), which is by far the world's largest exchange, trading nearly 1.5 billion shares a day. It was first announced on Aug. 3, 2018, …

The CEO of the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) expects the firm’s digital asset platform Bakkt to launch later in 2019. The comment was made by ICE CEO Jeff Sprecher during an earnings call Thursday, Feb. 7. The call was dedicated to ICE’s financial results for Q4 and the full year of 2018. Sprecher explained that the company spent over $1 billion on strategic initiatives, including on the launch of the digital asset platform. ICE operates 23 leading global exchanges, along with the New York Stock Exchange. The company’s CFO, Scott Hill, further revealed his expectations on the expenses Bakkt is set …

Bakkt, the much-anticipated digital assets platform operated by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), has closed its first acquisition, a tweet from the company revealed Feb. 8. The move marks the finalization of an acquisition of assets in futures commission merchant Rosenthal Collins Group (RCG). “With today’s closing of our transaction with Rosenthal Collins Group, we welcome great new team members to Bakkt,” the statement reads. By acquiring certain assets in the company, Bakkt said it hopes: “RCG’s remarkable heritage, culture and expertise will help us build out a trusted institutional infrastructure for digital assets.” Bakkt had announced the acquisition of assets …