Backend Buyup to Boost Crypto Amid Payments Wars

Bakkt Acquisition: Backend Buyup to Boost Crypto Amid Payments Wars

In Bakkt acquisition news, the forthcoming cryptocurrency exchange has agreed to acquire a series of back-office departments from futures commission merchant Rosenthal Collins Group (RCG). The new staff will be leveraged to boost the platform’s support infrastructure and crypto payments plans. The move comes as chop and competition are mounting in the mainstream payments arena. 

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‘We’re Not Standing Still’: New Bakkt Acquisition Will Help Staff Up Platform

Bakkt, the coming cryptocurrency exchange and bitcoin futures platform backed by NYSE owner-operator Intercontinental Exchange, has announced an agreement to acquire elements of RCG’s treasury, risk management, and customer service staff.

We’re pleased to share that we have entered into an agreement to acquire certain assets of Rosenthal Collins Group (RCG), an independent futures commission merchant https://t.co/5sgdbRO6Ql

— Bakkt (@Bakkt) January 14, 2019

The deal, which will reportedly be finalized next month, is a plucking of sorts by Bakkt, as RCG was already participating in a wider sale of its customer accounts to commodity brokers titan Marex Spectron.

Per Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffler, the new support staff will be inserted into comparable roles at the company to boost the cryptocurrency platform’s own backend operations, the key difference for them being that digital assets will now be the main commodities at hand in their work.

“This acquisition underlines the fact we’re not standing still as we await regulatory approval by the CFTC for the launch of regulated trading in our crypto markets,” Loeffler said.

“Our mission requires significant investment in technology to establish an innovative platform, as well as financial market expertise to deliver the most trusted fintech ecosystem for digital assets.”

Notably, the buyup comes after Bakkt declared its inaugural funding round had secured $182.5 million USD in late Dec. 2018. Its new support staff, along with its war chest, will allow the platform to continue gunning toward retail-focused services like pre-funded cryptocurrency cards.

Bakkt Fighting for Mainstream Retail Crypto at a Time of Apparent Payments Wars

A specter is haunting mainstream Western payments powers, and that specter looks to be China.

That’s because the People’s Bank of China, the Asian superpower’s central bank, has reportedly refused to acknowledge Mastercard’s and Visa’s latest round of applications to process payments of renminbi, the official Chinese currency.

The incident appears to be a major de facto ghosting, as the renminbi was a $124 trillion market less than two years ago.

And speaking of fiat payments, Russia has bought lots of renminbi as of late as the economically-sanctioned nation has ramped up a dedollarization campaign. The thrust to exit USD has also generated buzz that Russia could be preparing to diversity its currency portfoflio into bitcoin, one Kremlin-linked economist has said.

Back in the U.S., the Federal Reserve is seemingly anxious over embracing rising financial tech firms for now.

All these threads point to the same thing: there’s currently no shortage of chop, competition, and uncertainty in the global payments arena. If there was ever a time for insurgent cryptocurrencies to decisively stake their claims, it’s now.

What’s your take? Will the new Bakkt acquisition give the platform the needed infrastructure to tangibly boost cryptocurrency adoption? Let us know in the comments section below. 

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