THE INTERCONTINENTAL EXCHANGE(ICE), which owns and operates the New York Stock Exchange and more than a dozen markets and exchanges worldwide, officially announced its new cryptocurrency business last friday.
its called Bakkt, and the new platform will allow investors to buy, trade and store cryptocurrency on a federally regulated market. Bakkt will focus on bitcoin initially. And its scheduled to launched (pending regulatory approval)in November. It will primarily target institutional investors(large financial firms)-though there will be some offerings for retail investors. and it will also help merchants accept cryptocurrency as payment.
Here is how Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffler describes the project:
Bakkt is designed to serve as a scalable on -ramp for institutional, merchant and consumer participation in digital assets by promoting greater efficiency, security and utility.
we are collaborating to build an open platform that helps unlock the transformative potential of digital assets across global markets and commerce.
and here's how BK Capital MAnagement founder Brian Kelly reached to the news on CNBC:
they will now have a US-regulated exchange, and they have a licensed warehouse, which is how commodities are stored, and that is going to make it a lot easier for an ETF to come through.
Clearly, ICE sees a future in crypto assets. Bakkt's first product will be bitcoin future contract. this contract is different from other bitcoin futures currently on the market because it has real deliverable bitcoin attached to it (by contract, the CME and CBOE futures and synthetic, meaning there's no actual bitcoin involved)
BAKKT 'BACKED' BY MAJOR PLAYERS
ICE is an extremely large and powerful financial force on its own. And it has chosen very impressive partners to work with on Bakkt.
investors in the project include;
i) Pantera capital
ii) Susquehanna International Group
iii) Protocol Ventures
iv) Galaxy Ditital
v) Fortress Investment Group
The first four on that list are among the largest crypto asset management companies in the world. They are pioneers in the field well-connected players in the world.
The last investors, Fortress Investment Group, is a large traditional firm with more than $70 billion under management. Overall, its a very impressive group of investors.
Bakkt is partnering with Microsoft for cloud infrastructure and security.
This is a serious endeavour, and its exactly the type of solution that is needed to bring big investors into crypto.
Professional investors are conservative by nature. They want to work with names they can trust. Bakkt gives them exactly that.
FINAL HURDLES TO MAINSTREAM ADOPTION
Here is what i am focused on instead of short-term price action
Institutional investors are for the first time gaining access to crypto markets. Up until now, only a few forward-thinking venture capitalists and hedge funds had entered the space.
This is opening up crypto market to very investor in the world. Bakkt and competing companies are in a race to build out the infrastructure necessary for this to happen.
In short, the institutional catalyst theory that I and others have proposed is on track. In fact, the case is stronger than ever.
Once a few big funds or endowments make a move into the space, many more will follow. Everyone will want a small portion of their overall assets in crypto. It is the ultimate hedge with unparalleled upside.
All the bitcoin in existence today is worth around $119billion. I think that one day it could easily be as big as the entire gold market or even more, which is worth around $7.5trillion.
I have positioned myself, and our members accordignly.
Frank asikaogu
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