Bakkt ‘not standing still’ waiting for CFTC approval as they look to make their first acquisition

Bakkt has announced an agreement with Rosenthal Collins Group to purchase “certain valuable assets” that will help develop the Bakkt platform.

Bakkt is a crypto trading and liquidity platform with emphasis on “bringing digital assets into the mainstream by enabling efficient transactions between consumers and merchants.” Since its inception in August 2018, the company has gone on to raise $182 million worth of funds from 12 high-profile partners and investors.

The platform has been working with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to ensure its business plan is compliant with the CFTC’s regulatory framework, but approval is still pending.

The news was broke on Medium by Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffler, who stated: “I’m pleased to share that we have entered into an agreement to acquire certain assets of Rosenthal Collins Group (RCG).

“This acquisition underlines the fact we’re not standing still as we await regulatory approval by the CFTC for the launch of regulated trading in crypto markets.

“As part of this transaction, our aim is to purchase certain valuable assets related to developing our platform.”

The Rosenthal Collins Group, founded in 1923, is an independent futures commission merchant. Back in December, RCG sold all of their customer accounts to Marex Spectron – one of the world’s largest commodity brokers.

The acquisition of assets from RCG is expected to enhance “risk management and treasury operations with systems and expertise.” Loeffler also reveals how aspects of the transaction should contribute to Bakkt’s regulatory Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) services.

Speaking to Fortune, Kelly Loeffler commented: “Typically when companies are combined you have overlapping systems, so we saw an opportunity to purchase a portion of the back office operations.”

Whilst the price of the deal hasn’t been disclosed, the transaction is expected to be completed by February.

For more information and guides from Coin Rivet, click here.