While the world economy hangs in the balance and the Dow Jones enters a bear market, one Atlanta tech company is making bank with crypto.
Bakkt, a cryptocurrency exchange and liquidity provider created by the New York Stock Exchange’s parent company Intercontinental Exchange, has raised $300 million in a Series B round. It included several notable investors: Microsoft’s M12, PayU, Boston Consulting Group, Goldfinch Partners, CMT Digital, Pantera Capital and Intercontinental Exchange. The announcement of the funding was made Monday morning by newly appointed Bakkt CEO Mike Blandina in a Medium blog post.
"Bakkt launched two years ago with the vision of building trust in and unlocking the value of digital assets for institutions and consumers alike," Blandina wrote. "Since then, we have been focused on delivering that vision. In 2019 we helped launch the first end-to-end regulated market for bitcoin and an institutional bitcoin custody offering too."
In addition to the funding, Blandina announced Bakkt plans to launch its cryptocurrency exchange app in the summer. The news comes on the tail end of the announcement that ICE had acquired Alpharetta-based Bridge2 Solutions, a provider of loyalty solutions for merchants and consumers. Following the completion of the transaction, Bakkt acquired Bridge2 Solutions from ICE using proceeds from Bakkt’s Series B round of funding.
Earlier this month, Atlanta Inno speculated Bakkt would use Bridge2 Solutions technology to design a platform that would allow users to cash in and trade loyalty program points for bitcoin and cash. It appears our thoughts were on point, according to Blandina's description of the new Bakkt app.
"Bakkt gives users control over their digital assets. Whether it’s miles from your favorite airline, loyalty points from the local grocery store, or bitcoin you’ve purchased, the Bakkt app enables you to aggregate all of these assets into a single digital wallet," he wrote. "In just a few taps you can use those assets to shop at your favorite merchants, send them to family and friends, or convert them to cash. We believe that you hold more value than you realize and we’re here to help you track, spend, and send your digital assets however you want."
Blandina said that Bakkt would allow users to unlock $1 trillion worth of digital assets in loyalty programs, rewards, bitcoin and other sources.
"We have the unique opportunity to leverage the technology, infrastructure and partners across our businesses to bring innovative new products to market and in doing so expand access to the global economy," Blandina wrote.
Bakkt has been in the public spotlight for months now, mostly due to former Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffler's new political career. Loeffler was nominated by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to replace Sen. Johnny Isakson as an interim U.S. senator. Loeffler resigned from her role as CEO at Bakkt before taking on the senator position in January.
Loeffler, who is also married to the CEO of ICE, Jeff Sprecher, and a co-owner of Atlanta’s WNBA team the Atlanta Dream, has been underway with a campaign to keep her Senate seat in the special election later this year. She will have to run again in 2022 to achieve a full six-year Senate term. If she were to win both elections, she would be Georgia’s first elected woman to the Senate.
