Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), is partnering up with Microsoft, Starbucks, and others to launch Bakkt, a solution for buying, selling, storing, and spending digital assets.
Introducing Bakkt
ICE announced August 3rd that it plans to form a brand new company dubbed Bakkt. The designation of the new entity will be to introduce a trusted and seamless way for users to buy, sell, store, and spend digital assets.
The cryptocurrency exchange will leverage the existing cloud solutions of Microsoft. It’s also working with noted companies such as BCG, Starbucks, and others.
Jeffrey C. Sprecher, founder, chairman, and CEO of ICE, noted:
In bringing regulated, connected infrastructure together with institutional and consumer applications for digital assets, we aim to build confidence in the asset class on a global scale, consistent with our track record of bringing transparency and trust to previously unregulated markets.
The new service is intended to launch in November 2018, starting with a 1-day physically delivered Bitcoin contract as an initial component. However, this would first have to be cleared by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
‘The Biggest News of The Year for Bitcoin’
Naturally, the announcement of ICE quickly caught the attention of the crypto community, with popular cryptocurrency commentator and founder of investment firm BKCM LLC Brian Kelly calling it “the biggest news of the year for Bitcoin.”
Kelly outlines the importance of the announcement in relation to the recent hype around Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). According to the expert, Bakkt will improve the chances of a potential Bitcoin ETF approval, saying:
They’ll now have a U.S.-regulated exchange and they have a licensed warehouse, which is how commodities are stored and that’s going to make it a lot easier for an ETF to come through.
However, despite the notably important announcement, the market didn’t respond positively. Bitcoin is marking yet another day in the red, losing around 15 percent of its value in the last seven days alone. According to Kelly, the market is not reacting adequately, noting:
My conclusion is the crypto market is completely missing this. Perhaps the market in general is missing this. This is very, very big news.
Do you think Bakkt will positively impact the cryptocurrency market? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!
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