Recently, Live Bitcoin News reported that the former CEO of Bakkt – the institutional crypto trading platform owned and governed by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) – had left her post to go serve in the United States Senate. While it’s only a temporary position, the company still needs to find a worthy replacement – even if it’s for just a small amount of time.Bakkt Has a New Person in ChargeBakkt is introducing us to Mike Blandina, the new CEO of the platform, while Adam White will serve as its new president. Both have been in office since December 20 after Kelly Loeffler – the former head honcho of the trading firm – left to see what she could do in Congress.Blandina has been a part of the Bakkt family since the beginning of the year. He originally signed on to serve as the company’s
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Recently, Live Bitcoin News reported that the former CEO of Bakkt – the institutional crypto trading platform owned and governed by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) – had left her post to go serve in the United States Senate. While it’s only a temporary position, the company still needs to find a worthy replacement – even if it’s for just a small amount of time.
Bakkt Has a New Person in Charge
Bakkt is introducing us to Mike Blandina, the new CEO of the platform, while Adam White will serve as its new president. Both have been in office since December 20 after Kelly Loeffler – the former head honcho of the trading firm – left to see what she could do in Congress.
Blandina has been a part of the Bakkt family since the beginning of the year. He originally signed on to serve as the company’s chief product officer but has also had several leading roles with companies such as PayPal, One Market, Westfield and the Blackhawk Network.
White has been around even longer, originally signing on as the chief operating officer following the platform’s initial launch in 2018. Prior, he worked as an executive of Coinbase, one of the world’s leading and most popular cryptocurrency exchanges. Before entering the crypto and financial spaces, White served as an aircraft tester in the United States Air Force.
Jeffrey Sprecher – founder and chairman of ICE – commented in a statement:
As CEO, Mike will chart Bakkt’s strategic direction, payment products and markets, as well as overseeing the regulatory and financial performance of the company. His more than 25 years of experience in payments across product, engineering, strategy and operations will continue to serve us well.
Sprecher also had a few things to say about White’s presence with Bakkt, explaining:
In his new role as president, Adam will focus on digital asset markets, custody and trading, as well as Bakkt’s strategic direction. Adam’s breadth of experience in crypto markets, and his work as a founding executive at Bakkt, give him a unique perspective that will help shape our future successes.
Bakkt has had something of a mixed year in 2019. The company opened its doors for business officially in late September to rather lackluster reception. It seemed like after a year of hype and hoopla, nobody seemed all that interested anymore, and the platform traded less than 75 bitcoin futures contracts during its initial weekend.
A Strange Year Is Ending
This ultimately caused a major downgrade in bitcoin’s price, which fell from about $9,500 to $8,100 in mere minutes. From there, however, the platform began to pick up speed and later found itself breaking records and trading millions in futures contracts by the time late October rolled in.
Bitcoin, however, is still suffering, and is presently trading for nearly half its summer peak price of $13,600.