Bakkt platform raises $ 300 million in new round of financing

Cryptocurrency platform Bakkt, one of the main products of which is deliverable futures for Bitcoin,announced the closure of the Series B financing round, which resulted in raising $ 300 million.

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Parent company includedThe New York Stock Exchange Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), a venture capital division of Microsoft M12, PayU, Boston Consulting Group, Goldfinch Partners, CMT Digital and Pantera Capital.

“With the closure of the Series B funding round andwith the recent Bridge2 Solutions purchase, Bakkt now has a team of 350 employees and serves loyalty programs for seven of the top 10 financial institutions, as well as over 4,500 loyalty programs, including the two largest US airlines. ”– said Bakkt CEO Mike Blandina.

Bakkt provides loyalty programswith the help of Bridge2 Solutions, which was announced in February this year. As it was announced then, the new integration will accelerate the development of the Bakkt consumer application, one of the first partners of which should be the Starbucks coffee shop chain.

Today, Mike Blandina confirmed that the application will be launched this summer.

December 31, 2018 Bakkt closed the roundSeries A financing, which raised $ 182.5 million. It is assumed that after this, the platform’s capitalization has grown to $ 740 million. Thus, with the receipt of new investments, Bakkt is part of a club of unicorn companies whose market value exceeds $ 1 billion.

Launch of trading in bitcoin futures delivery fromBakkt was held in September 2019. Contracts offered by the platform will allow market participants to bet on changes in bitcoin prices in the future and receive payments in cryptocurrency, which distinguishes them from the existing regulated futures of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), which allow you to receive only the fiat equivalent of the earned bitcoins.