Digital assets marketplace Bakkt, a subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange, is to list on the New York Stock Exchange through a merger with VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings, a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by Victory Park Capital.
The business combination between Bakkt and VIH values the combined company at an enterprise value of approximately $2.1 billion. Intercontinental Exchange will hold a 65% stake in the company, which will be renamed as Bakkt Holdings.
The new unit will be headed by Gavin Michael, former head of technology of Citi’s Global Consumer Bank.
Launched in 2018, Bakkt initially majored on the institutional markets, creating a regulated futures and options market for cryptotrading and an institutional custody offering.
Last year the firm raised $300 million in funding to spur the development of a one-size-fits-all mobile app, that will enable users to consolidate all of their digital assets -from crypto to loyalty points to in-game tokens - in a single virtual wallet. A a portion of the fresh funding was also used to acquire Bridge2 Solutions, a provider of loyalty services for merchants and consumers, which was taken over by parent company ICE in February.
Bridge2 powers programmes for seven of the top ten financial institutions and 4,500 loyalty, incentive and employee perk programmes for companies across a wide spectrum of industries.
The company is expecting to launch its Bakkt Cash App this spring, having tested and integrated the system with Starbucks. The coffee outlet uses the app to convert crypto to US dollars at the point of sale.