Intercontinental Exchange CEO: Bakkt Will Launch Later This Year

Published on by Cointele | Published on

The CEO of the Intercontinental Exchange expects the firm's digital asset platform Bakkt to launch later in 2019.

The comment was made by ICE CEO Jeff Sprecher during an earnings call Thursday, Feb. 7.

The call was dedicated to ICE's financial results for Q4 and the full year of 2018.

ICE operates 23 leading global exchanges, along with the New York Stock Exchange.

"And finally, our investment in Bakkt will generate $20 million to $25 million of expense based upon the run rate in the first quarter. We will update you on progress at Bakkt and the level of investment as we move through the year."

"So it's a bit of a moonshot bet and it's been organized in a manner that is very different than the way ICE typically does businesses They're well along in building out an infrastructure that I think you'll see launch later this year."

Sprecher added that Bakkt exists independently from ICE, as it has its own offices, management team and infrastructure.

"I think Bakkt is really an investment That's more about the future and revenue and market opportunities that we see in the future and less about 2019 topline," Hill said.

ICE first announced the launch of its digital asset platform in August 2018.

On Saturday, Feb. 9, ICE announced that it has finalized its first acquisition of assets in futures commission merchant Rosenthal Collins Group, which was first announced in mid-January.

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