Last Monday, Bitcoin exchange Bakkt announced it reached a deal to go public via a reverse merger by combining with VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings (NASDAQ: VIH), a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by Victory Park Capital. The combined new entity will be called "Bakkt Holdings" and listed on the New York Stock Exchange with an expected valuation of $2.1 billion. The Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE) subsidiary also announced that Gavin Michael, former technology head of Citi's (NYSE: C) Global Consumer Bank, is joining Bakkt as CEO. Bakkt said that investors' equity will roll into the combined company, and Intercontinental Exchange will invest an extra $50 million as part of the SPAC deal. The crypto firm plans to complete a full launch of its Bakkt Cash app this spring, which lets users top off rewards points with BTC. Looking ahead, Bakkt projects the crypto market could grow fivefold by 2025 to $3 trillion.
Here's the rest of the week in review:
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden will name Gary Gensler as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to media reports. The potential nomination of Gensler, a former chairman of the Commodity Future Trading Commission (CFTC), is already prompting concern on Wall Street over tougher regulation. But former CFTC official Jeff Bandman argued that Gensler is good news for the digital assets industry due to his being "thoughtful and broad-minded about the future of crypto-assets and that he understands the role enlightened regulators can play in boosting innovation." Bandman said that Gensler understands blockchain technology and digital currencies and will leverage his experience in markets and technology, instead of previous chairs' background in mergers and acquisitions or enforcement. Gensler's work to reform over-the-counter derivatives as part of Dodd-Frank suggests he could improve crypto's market structure and investor protections. Bandman also predicts Gensler will approve Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds.
Coinbase announced on Thursday the Coinbase Asset Hub, a new issuance portal that aims to help token issuers list more crypto assets on the major exchange. Coinbase's Chief Product Officer Surojit Chatterjee wrote: "Our directive is to list every compliant asset possible. Streamlining the listing process is step one. We will continue to maintain a standard evaluation framework to ensure every asset we support meets our standards for legal, compliance and technical security review." Coinbase explained that Asset Hub will make it easier for blockchain projects to access and be purchased by the exchange's 35 million verified users. The new initiative comes ahead of a planned public debut potentially via direct listing in early to mid-2021 for Coinbase, which was valued at over $8 billion in 2018 but is now expected to reach a valuation of at least $50 to $75 billion.
Crypto prices edged down to $1.00 trillion this week. Among the majors, Polkadot (DOT) and Chainlink (LINK) exploded, while Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Litecoin (LTC) tumbled. In the top 100, the biggest losers were Bitcoin Cash, down 19%, Litecoin, down 16%, and Bitcoin SV (BSV), down 16%. The biggest gainers were HedgeTrade (HEDG), up a whopping 196%, Voyager Token (VGX), up 137%, and Curve DAO Token (CRV), up 109%. Next week traders will see if Bitcoin can reach $40,000 again.
The author owns a small amount of BTC and LTC.