Investors estimated Bakkt platform at $ 740 million

Investors at approximately $ 740 million estimate the cryptocurrency platform Bakkt, created by the operator of the New York Stock Exchange.

During the first investment round of Series A, held in December last year, Bakkt collected $ 182.5 million to develop a platform that aims to attract institutional investors to cryptoassets. A probable valuation of $ 740 million suggests that Bakkt's owner, Intercontinental Exchange, has sold up to 25% of its shares to outside investors, including Galaxy, Pantera, Microsoft and Starbucks. Until now, the public catering giant has not made any investments in the site.

Investors are currently interested in the question of the profitability of investments in a business, the launch of which postponed due to the lack of regulatory certainty. Sources believe that the leadership of Bakkt will have to try hard to ensure sufficient cash flow and to justify the investment.

"Immediately after launch, the system should work flawlessly, otherwise it will not be possible to cover the costs, aimed mainly at finding qualified personnel. All the links in the chain need to be folded perfectly so that investors receive the income that is usually expected from such investments,"

said one source.

If the campaign fails, investors can use the right to redeem the shares, fixed in the documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and withdraw from the transaction.

Reported that by the next stage of raising funds, the Bakkt management may raise the company's capitalization to $ 1 billion, but investors will most likely want to see what they are investing in. 

"If I was looking to buy a piece in the emergent regulated US digital assets derivatives game today, I would look at cheaper alternatives which are further ahead in execution. They've paid too much," 

said one of the investors.

Meanwhile, Commissioner for Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) of the United States Dan Berkowitz noted that his department is actively working on the Bakkt proposal. Communicating with BLOCKTV on March 19, he said that the Commission is loyal to cryptocurrencies and wants to eliminate fraud and market manipulation.

"Distributed registry technology allows creating truly decentralized interaction among market participants. Blockchain carries a number of unique challenges, not peculiar to other new technologies. We carefully consider all the offers that come to us, including this," 

said Berkowitz, commenting on the issue of the Bakkt application.

SOURCE