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Bakkt raised $ 182.5 million to build its global digital asset platform and its bitcoin futures product.
The round, which is Bakkt's first, included 12 partners, according to an average post from CEO Kelly Loeffler. The cryptographic boot is owned by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), better known as the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Investors in the funding round included Boston Consulting Group, Galaxy Digital, Goldfinch Partners, ICE, M12 (Microsoft's VC fund), Pantera Capital and Protocol Ventures.
Loeffler wrote:
"We focus on opportunities to provide new infrastructure, including the industry's first regulated exchange, clearing and deposit services for physical delivery and storage."
On Monday, in a separate announcement, Bakkt revealed that its planned bitcoin futures market was again delayed. CoinDesk had previously warned that such a delay was probable. The launch was scheduled for January 24th. No new date has been announced.
Loeffler first announced on January 24th as the target launch date in a previous delay announcement issued in November.
The release attributed the delay to the consultation with the Commission for the trade in raw materials in the United States, estimating that a new launch date should be announced at the start of the new year.
While these delays may provoke impatience on the part of bitcoin holders who hoped that a new institutional product could alleviate some of the cryptic winter pain, the fundraising announcement today rests heavily on a message of patience.
Noting that the Bakkt team was built by veterans of other new and nascent financial markets, Loeffler wrote: "The path to developing new markets is rarely linear: progress tends to modulate between innovation, dismissal, reinvention and, finally, acceptance".
Moving too early, note, has its dangers:
"While access to information when technological innovation occurs is extremely valuable, the risk is a" mark on the market "of innovations before they have the chance to mature. Few innovations have reached their full potential in their first decade of development ".
Bakkt did not want to make any further comments.
"Pantera is excited to support Bakkt on its journey to provide the necessary infrastructure for institutional and retail investors," Pantera Capital partner Paul Veradittakit told CoinDesk. "Physically regulated and regulated bitcoin futures are the first step of many to bring more regulation and ease of access to cryptocurrencies".
Updated with comment from Pantera Capital.
Photo of New York Stock Exchange via Shutterstock
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