Bakkt snaps up Coinbase’s Adam White; on track to start testing next month

Bakkt, the much-awaited digital asset platform, is gearing up to set the crypto space ablaze by bagging big names in the blockchain and tech industry. Confirming recent media reports, Bakkt said in a blog post on Medium that it has appointed former Coinbase executive Adam White as its chief operating officer. White will begin his stint at Bakkt next month. He had previously served as vice president and general manager of leading crypto exchange Coinbase. In an interview with mediahouse Fortune, White talked about how Wall Street was ready to venture into digital assets. “The interest in Bitcoin and other currencies started changing from retail to the institutional side. But the level of infrastructure of the existing trading sites often didn’t meet their expectations. That’s why they’re waiting on the sidelines,” he pointed out. Moreover, major financial institutions are looking for exchanges that are as secure as platforms that offer trading in equities, bonds or gold. “That’s why I joined Bakkt,” he stated.

What's next for Bakkt?

In the Medium post, Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffler said that the exchange, clearing house boards  and the clearing house risk committee have all approved the rules that will be applied to the platform. The exchange plans to file these rules publicly with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for approval soon. Additionally, Loeffler said that once the exchange gets the CFTC's green light, the platform will start testing and onboarding in November, after which trading and warehousing is expected to begin in December.

She mentioned that the platform's model aimed to ensure that clearing members are well-protected from risks through a conservative market design. The design includes a requirement of full prefunding for Bitcoin trades and allowing clients to onboard directly to the warehouse, which means that clearing members do not need to handle cryptocurrency themselves.

Moreover, a separate guaranty fund for Bitcoin, fully funded by Bakkt and ICE, will be established to ensure that "non-defaulting clearing member capital is not at risk in the waterfall".

The platform is being developed by New York Stock Exchange's (NYSE) parent company Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), along with Starbucks, Microsoft and global consulting firm BCG. The consortium first announced its plans for the exchange in August, when it was stated that the first use cases of the Bakkt ecosystem will be for trading and conversion of Bitcoin versus fiat currencies, as Bitcoin is the most liquid digital currency now. See also:

Image via Shutterstock

Join our Telegram group