Intercontinental Exchange backed crypto startup, Bakkt, has raised about $300 million from investors in its Series B funding round according to an official announcement by the CEO, Mike Blandina, on Monday.
The digital assets custodian and derivatives platform are focused on granting clients access and control over their various digital assets, which includes loyalties and reward points, in-game assets, merchant stored value, and cryptocurrencies, anywhere in the world.
Bakkt was able to raise the $300 million from a host of investors such as Intercontinental Exchange, Microsoft’s M12, PayU, Boston Consulting Group, Goldfinch Partners, CMT Digital, and Pantera Capital. The completion of this Series B round of funding precedes the launch of the Bakkt App, which is set for launch this summer.
Since most clients still find it very difficult to utilize and keep track of their digital assets, the Bakkt App will help to solve this problem by collecting the various digital assets and assembling them all in one wallet.
The belief is that such a provision makes it easier for customers to make use of cryptocurrencies in day-to-day purchases by converting them to fiat currencies, or to send them to other wallets. It would, at the same time, give customers total control over their digital assets since they can track their operations whenever they wish and wherever they are.
Bakkt currently has 350 employees and provides loyalty redemption programs for 7 of the 10 largest financial institutions in the world and more than 4,500 other loyalty and incentive programs for various companies, including two of the largest United States airlines, after its acquisition of Bridge2 Solutions and subsequent Series B funding.
Commenting on the work ahead, Mike Blandina said in today’s announcement
I’m excited at our potential to unlock nearly $1 trillion of digital assets when the Bakkt app launches this summer… We have the unique opportunity to leverage the technology, infrastructure, and partners across our businesses to bring innovative new products to market and in doing so expand access to the global economy.
News of Bakkt’s latest funding round provides a glimpse of hope for the crypto markets, which, even at the start of this new week, is in turmoil. Bitcoin is currently trading under $5000, and according to the charts could suffer a further steep decline.
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