- Bakkt has raised over $182.5 million in funding from 12 partners in its latest funding round
- The announcement was made in Bakkt’s end of year update
In a December 31st post, Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffler announced that the firm has raised about $182.5 million from 12 partners in their most recent round of funding.
Bakkt draws big players
The partners in question are Boston Consulting Group, CMT Digital, Eagle Seven, Galaxy Digital, Goldfinch Partners, Alan Howard, Horizons Ventures, Intercontinental Exchange, Microsoft’s venture capital arm, M12, Pantera Capital, PayU, the fintech arm of Naspers, and Protocol Ventures.
Besides announcing this round of funding, the firm also reiterated their goal of driving more institutional investors to the blockchain industry and also hinted at a partnership with more firms.
“Our work today is centered on driving institutional access for digital assets, along with merchant and consumer uses, and we’re already expanding on this vision, collaborating with great companies like Starbucks in these efforts,” the announcement said.
The year ahead
According to the announcement, more details on the new collaborations will be shared in the New Year.
However, it was confirmed that Bakkt is working on the first institutional grade regulated exchange in the blockchain industry as well as clearing and warehousing services for physical delivery and storage.
Another thing that was touched on was the work that Bakkt is doing with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Most of this work has been centered around getting regulatory approval for physically delivered and warehoused bitcoin.
The application for approval has been filled and submitted and as of now, the application is going through the regulatory review process.
The announcement went on to thank the customers and partners of Bakkt for their support in the process of creating new products and services. A process, Bakkt says, is inevitably complicated.
“The path to developing new markets is rarely linear: progress tends to modulate between innovation, dismissal, reinvention, and, finally, acceptance.”
The recent decline in Bitcoin price was noted as overshadowing the ‘most active year for crypto in its brief ten-year history.’
The announcement acknowledged the process that the industry has made in the last year as more important and significant than the current Bitcoin price.
The announcement made mention of the work ahead that Bakkt is excited to be a part of:
“Our first step is to establish the trust and infrastructure that builds confidence and grows participation at the institutional and merchant level. This is work that needs to be done, and we are excited to be part of this effort on a global scale as 2019 begins.”
