Crypto asset custodial and trading platform Bakkt will be listed for trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BKKT today.
The digital currency firm Bakkt is set to start trading on NYSE today, according to an announcement from the combined firms on Friday. The shares will be called “BKKT” and the public-listing was made possible via a merger with the company VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings, according to the Intercontinental Exchange’s (ICE) and VPC’s press statements.
Bakkt has reportedly earned gross proceeds of roughly $450 million through the business merger. The company plans to utilize the funds to finance investments in “the platform’s capabilities and marketing efforts, and accelerating current and future partnerships.”
Bakkt first mentioned its plans to go public in January, when the company was estimated to be worth about $2 billion. The company partnered with Starbucks in 2019 to let consumers buy coffee and other goods with bitcoin.
Earlier this month, Bakkt announced it is working with Google on a project that will extend access to digital assets to millions of new customers, saying it was created to “extend the reach and usability of digital assets to meet rapidly evolving consumer demand and preferences.”
Buying Class A common stock in a cryptocurrency company such as Bakkt Holdings can be thought of as indirectly investing in bitcoin. It will be interesting to see how much investors buy its stock, now that a bitcoin futures ETF is set to begin trading on the same day. The company’s share price fluctuations are influenced by the cryptocurrencies’ volatility. Bakkt is backed by venture capital firms Pantera Capital and Microsoft’s venture arm.
Several cryptocurrency companies have gone public recently, including Bakkt. Nasdaq listed Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the United States, in April. Stocks in publicly traded cryptocurrency companies are often considered indirect investments in bitcoin since their values are often affected by the volatile cryptocurrency market.
Bakkt has since evolved beyond its original vision of “trust and transparency” for digital assets to create consumer applications for Crypto.
