Emerging Markets

Bakkt CEO: We’re About To See A Cryptocurrency Revolution

Wilma Woo | Oct 15, 2018 | 19:00

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The CEO of Intercontinental Exchange’s (ICE) forthcoming cryptocurrency trading platform Bakkt has said she wants to deliver a “revolution” in the sector in a similar way to energy trading fifteen years ago.

Crypto ‘Revolution’ Matches Early 2000s Energy Market

Speaking to Fortune following news Bakkt had hired former Coinbase vice president Adam White as COO, Kelly Loeffler forecast a repeat performance of ICE’s market-making moves last decade.

Bakkt,  set for launch next month, has generated considerable interest since its announcement in late July.

“The digital market is fragmented like the energy market in the early 2000s. ICE was the pioneer attracting more and more institutions to trade energy, which is what created today’s liquid market,” she told the publication.

“We’re about to see a revolution on the same scale in cryptocurrencies.”

Following up on our Medium post earlier this morning, @MrShawnTully of @FortuneMagazine has an interview with Bakkt CEO Kelly Leoffler and incoming COO @WhiteAdamL. Read it herehttps://t.co/y4NlX2t3CS

— Bakkt (@Bakkt) October 15, 2018

Bakkt intends to avoid unpopular leveraged and non-custodial trading products for its increasingly broad institutional investor base, alleviating some concerns from cryptocurrency industry figures that a lack of physical interaction with Bitcoin 00 itself would ultimately damage its profile and success.

Highlighting a suite of features unveiled in a blog post on Monday, Loeffler, added, provided additional reassurance.

“These points should also eliminate misconceptions regarding commingling, leverage and rehypothecation, which are not features of our offering,” she wrote.

White Eyes Technical Fundamentals

Coinbase itself is also actively seeking ways to attract the institutional market, launching its Coinbase Pro platform earlier this year and confirming it would build out its functions with new crypto-assets going forward.

ICE will now compete with offerings from Wall Street stalwarts Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, all of which have said they intend to become active in the trading sector.

White meanwhile repeated the commonly-heard narrative about the space in its current form: that institutional investor interest is real, but many are biding their time waiting for suitable support.

“…But the level of infrastructure of the existing trading sites often didn’t meet their expectations. That’s why they’re waiting on the sidelines,” he told Fortune.

“…Cryptocurrency markets go their own way, we see bull and bear markets. But what matters is that the number of daily transactions for all cryptocurrencies is up year over year.”

What do you think about Bakkt’s hiring and forecast? Let us know in the comments section below!

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