Bakkt announces its first acquisition

Bakkt, the cryptocurrency start-up launched last year by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), has made its first acquisition in an effort to bolster its upcoming Bitcoin futures trading platform.

Bakkt’s chief executive officer, Kelly Loeffler, announced yesterday in a blog post that the company had “entered into an agreement to acquire certain assets of Rosenthal Collins Group (RCG)”. RCG, an independent futures commission merchant, had previously announced the sale of all its customer accounts to UK-based commodity broker Marex Spectron, Loeffler explained, adding that as part of that transaction, “our aim was to purchase certain valuable assets related to developing our platform”. According to the CEO, these assets will risk management and treasury operations with systems and expertise.

“Other aspects of the transaction will contribute to our regulatory, AML/KYC and customer service operations as we help enable digital asset acceptance by bringing more choice and control to buyers and sellers.” The deal is expected to be finalised next month.

Loeffler also said that the move shows that the company remains active while it awaits regulatory approval for the launch of its Bitcoin futures market. “Our mission requires significant investment in technology to establish an innovative platform, as well as financial market expertise to deliver the most trusted fintech ecosystem for digital assets,” she said.

Originally, Bakkt planned for the platform to launch on January 24. However, it is now certain that the launch will be delayed, as the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has yet to announce the start of a 30-day period during which the public can weigh in on the proposal.

Bakkt recently announced that it had completed its first round of funding, raising $182.5 million from a number of partners and investors. These companies included Galaxy Digital, Intercontinental Exchange, Horizons Ventures and Microsoft’s venture capital arm, among others.