Author: As we get closer to the end of 2018, we can definitely say that 2018 wasn’t the best year for crypto, as Bitcoin and most major altcoins lost 80 – 90% of their initial value.
Looking for the new coming year of 2019, some of the topics that could change the negative sentiment might come on behalf of the institutional investors’ side. Hence, Bakkt was one of the hottest topics for the recent year.
Bakkt that was formed by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) is building its futures platform to offer custody services for large institutional investors, and their most important innovation is that they are operating under US regulations.
“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,” said Kelly Loeffler, CEO of Bakkt.
$182.5 Million Successful Funding Round
In the last hours of 2018, great news came from Bakkt, as they had announced upon completion of a (very) successful first round of funding.
According to Bakkt, some of the round’s investors include Boston Consulting Group, CMT Digital, Microsoft’s venture capital arm, M12, Pantera Capital (which is known as a leading crypto VC), and the fintech arm of Naspers.
“Notably, 2018 was the most active year for crypto in its brief ten-year history. This was evidenced by rising investment in distributed ledger technology and digital assets, as well as by blockchain network metrics such as daily bitcoin transaction value and active addresses. Yet, these milestones tend to be overshadowed by the more narrow focus on bitcoin’s price, which has been seen by some, as a proxy for the potential of the technology.”, as stated by CEO Kelly Loeffler.
Launch in a never-ending delay
After a couple of frustrating delays, the latest status of the launch date of the futures exchange is January 24, 2019. However, the pending approval from US regulators is still the primary boundary preventing Bakkt from launch, and as of now, it seems that the chances to launch on time given are very low.
UPDATE: In a recent update from now, ICE confirms the above stating that:
“The launch had previously been set for January 24, 2019, but will be amended pursuant to the CFTC’s process and timeline. ICE expects to provide an updated launch timeline in early 2019”
More news for you:
Ethereum’s Constantinople Upgrade Delayed After Security Vulnerability Discovered
Crypto Market Update Jan.15: 2019 Has Lots Of Exciting Crypto News, But No Trading Volume
Weekly Price Analysis Overview Jan.15: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Tron and Tezos
Ethereum Price Analysis Jan.15: Will The Positive Momentum Continue?
Following Tron BitTorrent Acquisition, Those Are The Lessons That Must Be Learnt For The Crypto Future
Cryptopia Admits Being Hacked: Stolen Amount is Unknown, a $2.5M Transaction Could Reveal
Ripple Price Analysis Jan.14: XRP Had Broken a Long-Term Support Line
This is Crypto Life: TRX Pump Following BitTorrent Announcement Returned TRON The $126M Acquisition Cost
Exactly 4 Years Since The $152 Capitulation Candle Which Ended The 2014 Bear Market
Ethereum’s Constantinople Upgrade: Which Exchanges Are Going to Support The ETH Hard Fork?
Crypto Trading Academy: Price Moves Up While RSI Down? Meet Divergence to Anticipate Price Movements
Ethereum Classic’s 51% Attacker Had Mysteriously Sent Back $100,000 To Gate.io Exchange
Ethereum Jan.16 Fork Constantinople Upgrade: Everything You Need to Know
Bitmain’s Uncertain Future: Suspends Bitcoin Mining Amid Senior Management Shakedown
Ethereum Price Analysis Jan.11: Following Bitcoin, ETH Reached Major Support at $124
