Bakkt raises $182 million amid rumours of futures contract delays

ICE’s Bakkt platform has raised $182 million worth of funds from 12 high-profile partners and investors.

The announcement was made by Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffler via a Medium blog post on the last day of 2018.

Bakkt is a crypto trading and liquidity platform announced by NYSE’s parent company Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).

Some of the high-profile companies from the industry supporting Bakkt include Boston Consulting Group, CMT Digital, Eagle Seven, Galaxy Digital, Goldfinch Partners, Alan Howard, Horizons Ventures, Intercontinental Exchange, M12 (Microsoft’s venture capital arm), Pantera Capital, PayU, and Protocol Ventures.

In the blog post, Bakkt CEO Loeffler wrote that the team are “focused on opportunities to provide new infrastructure, including the industry’s first institutional grade regulated exchange, clearing and warehousing services for physical delivery, and storage [of Bitcoins].”

Bitcoin futures possibly delayed further

ICE also separately announced possible further delays to the launch of its Bitcoin futures contracts on Bakkt. Previously scheduled for January 24th, the launch could now shift to February. ICE did, however, say that it will soon provide an update regarding the timings.

The Bakkt platform is still undergoing the process of approval from the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and Loeffler also commented on the recent uncertainties surrounding the launch of Bakkt. She said:

“The path to developing new markets is rarely linear: progress tends to modulate between innovation, dismissal, reinvention and, finally, acceptance. While access to information as technology innovation occurs is extremely valuable, the risk is a ‘marking to market’ of innovations before they have a chance to mature. Few innovations reached their full potential in their first decade of development.”