The Intercontinental Exchange which is the company behind Bakkt has said that they are planning to spend around $20 million to $25 million on Bakkt in 2019 which is a whole lot of money. Bakkt raised $182 million at the end of 2018 from some of the biggest venture capital firms and corporations who believe in the mission that Bakkt is trying to achieve and ICE is really serious about bringing Bakkt to life. They are currently gobbling up some of the best talents in the crypto space.
Even though we have seen Bakkt’s future contracts being delayed twice, this is somewhat because the CFTC was shut down during the US government shutdown and they are the ones who are going to decide when the Bakkt futures contracts are allowed to happen. Time will tell when exactly Bakkt’s futures get launched but they are surely coming. It’s just a matter of when and not a question of if.
Bakkt: Not just Futures Contracts
It’s also worth remembering that Bakkt is much more than futures contracts. Bakkt is about buying, selling, storing and spending digital assets such as bitcoin. They are looking at payment integrations with companies like Starbucks. We see the interest from giant corporations that are getting into it and they surely know the future of technology and Bakkt could really be a very important piece of that future infrastructure.
They are looking at regulated trading, regulated clearinghouse and a regulated warehouse or custody of cryptocurrencies. All of these things are very important especially for institutional investors and hedge funds. Custody equation will be very important for many people in the crypto world. They are literally some institutions who are prohibited from investing in things like bitcoin via their own charters or local regulations. That’s why they need to have these paper products like Bitcoin Futures, Bitcoin ETF or some kind of safe custody which is what Bakkt is setting up.
Bakkt Investment: A Moonshot Bet
The CEO of ICE Jeffrey C. Sprecher came out to say that the investment in Bakkt is their moonshot bet. He said that it is not a typical ICE product and it is not what they normally do and they see huge potential in it. They are not only spending millions of dollars in making this happen but a lot of time and energy as well. The likelihood of success is extremely high and the likelihood of this paying off in huge dividends for the Intercontinental Exchange is very real.
He also said that Bakkt is surely coming but later this year so there is yet another delay. It’s not all their fault by any means. There are external circumstances which are making it hard to have that full regulation. Without the regulators sitting in their offices working makes a lot harder to make these visions become reality.
Wall Street:
Wall Street is a real mixed bag and ICE is the representation or inside player and they are the ones launching Bakkt. So Wall Street is surely coming to the party. But it is worth understanding that we really don’t need Wall Street at the cryptocurrency party but they are coming regardless of whether we want them or not. Futures contracts are already happening and we are surely going to have more of them. Bitcoin ETF and different traded paper products are surely going to happen soon and it’s inevitable.
Because of the money, serious professionals backing it, their insider connections and the trust factor of the Intercontinental Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange Bakkt, Bakkt is surely going to be huge. According to unconfirmed reports, huge companies like JP Morgan are looking at looking at Bakkt for their cryptocurrency trades.
It is worth noting that apart from Bakkt, there are other big players entering into the crypto industry too. We have Fidelity which is also going to be a big player when it comes down it. All of this is coming together around the same time. 2019 is surely going to be a very exciting year in terms of cryptocurrencies and the fundamental things that are happening in the background.
What do you think about the future of Bakkt? Tell us in the comments section below.
