Bakkt raises $182.5 million in their first funding round – Bitcoin futures still awaits “green signal” from CFTC

Intercontinental Exchange’s Bakkt (New York Exchange’s parent company) has made a huge announcement on New Year’s eve. The CEO of Bakkt, Kelly Loeffler stated on her official medium blog that Bakkt has successfully completed its first funding round.

The firms that invested are hailed to be prominent players in both the financial and cryptocurrency space. They are Horizons Ventures, Galaxy Digital, Boston Consulting Group, Microsoft’s venture capital arm, Pantera Capital, PayU, CMT Digital, Eagle Seven, Goldfinch Partners, Alan Howard, M12, Naspers, Protocol Ventures and Intercontinental Exchange itself. In this round of funding, Bakkt has raised over $182.5 million.

The CEO stated:

“Our work today is centered on driving institutional access for digital assets, along with merchant and consumer uses, and we’re already expanding on this vision, collaborating with great companies like Starbucks in these efforts.”

She further stated that the team at Bakkt has been working with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC] a.k.a sister branch of the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission. Here, the CEO affirms that the physically delivered and warehoused Bitcoin will be launched with regulatory approval, and it is going to “amplify the voice of U.S authorities as the digital asset market evolves globally.”

“We have filed our applications and the timing for approval is now based on the regulatory review process […] Clearing firms and customers have continued to join us as we work toward CFTC approval. We made great progress in December, and we’ll continue to onboard customers as we await the ‘green light”

The cryptoverse reacted this news with most commenting negatively while some replying to it with a positive sentiment.

Richard Heart, a Twitterati said:

“Uh. I remember back when you had to have customers before insane valuation. Congrats I guess. Funding is debt btw, not an asset.”

Amar Chhetri, another Twitterati said:

“Congrats!! guys, and Happy New Year. Our biggest expectation from you is to fulfill your promise on the exact date…”

mydogisahusky said:

“Or how about they never launch it and stay the hell out of the way of the real bitcoiners? Just a thought. “We don’t need no stinkin’ Bakktes” – From The bandits in “Treasure of Sierra Madre”.”

The post Bakkt raises $182.5 million in their first funding round – Bitcoin futures still awaits “green signal” from CFTC appeared first on AMBCrypto.

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