We have a high regard for Bakkt, the whole team and the service they are developing. Not only because they are likely going to help to materialize one of our 5 cryptocurrency predictions of 2019, but, more importantly, they will probably drive it: institutional investing entering the crypto space! As Bakkt announced on December 31st the completion of its first round of funding of $182.5 million its CEO also published words of wisdom on Medium. We believe her article contains the 200 most important words for all serious and long term oriented crypto and blockchain investors.
The 12 partners and investors that invested in Bakkt include major names in the crypto but also traditional world: ICE, Boston Consulting Group, Galaxy Digital, Goldfinch Partners, Alan Howard, Horizons Ventures, Microsoft’s venture capital arm and Pantera Capital.
Bakkt also noted in the announcement that the company is working with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to obtain regulatory approval for physically delivered and warehoused bitcoin: “We have filed our applications and the timing for approval is now based on the regulatory review process.”
ICE separately announced in that the firm “expects to provide an updated launch timeline in early 2019, for the trading, clearing and warehousing of the Bakkt Bitcoin Daily Futures Contract.” So far it seems that things are progressing well, even if the initial target date was postponed, and the new date of January 24, 2019 will be postponed again, pending CFTC approval.
Crypto And Blockchain Investors: The 200 Most Important Words For 2019
More importantly, though, are the words of wisdom by the CEO of Bakkt who published her macro thoughts on Medium.
She indicates that her team at Bakkt have earned their stripes by helping advance markets in once-nascent asset classes, from energy to credit derivatives and, now, bitcoin.
In doing so she puts the whole crypto and blockchain technology evolution in perspective.
To us, the following 3 paragraphs which are copied from her article are, by far, the most important thing all serious and long term oriented crypto and blockchain investors need to read and understand. It is so easy to get caught up in the daily stream of news, price tickers, social media posts, and so on, all to distract from the big picture. That’s why the following is crucially important, and helps understand what really is going on. Emphasis ours.
The path to developing new markets is rarely linear: progress tends to modulate between innovation, dismissal, reinvention, and, finally, acceptance. Each step, whether part of discovery or adversity, ultimately strengthens the product. Twenty years ago, it was controversial to suggest that commodities or bonds could trade electronically, and many steps were required for that evolution to play out.
2018 was the most active year for crypto in its ten-year history. This was evidenced by rising investment in distributed ledger technology and digital assets, as well as by blockchain network metrics such as daily bitcoin transaction value and active addresses. Yet, these milestones tend to be overshadowed by the narrow focus on bitcoin’s price, which has been seen by some, as a proxy for the potential of the technology.
It’s worth noting that major technology shifts prior to 2000, such as the advent of cell phones in 1980’s and commercializing internet in the 1990’s, didn’t develop with the scrutiny of real-time digital headlines and tweets. While access to information as technology innovation occurs is extremely valuable, the risk is a “marking to market” of innovations before they to mature. Few innovations reached their full potential in their first decade of development.
Let’s not forget that the real breakthrough in the blockchain space, which includes crypto in our view, is really happening ‘as we speak’. The ICO craze of 2017 did not deliver great output yet, it delivered a great foundation. Also, the real innovation started quite recently even if the Bitcoin blockchain came into existence almost 10 years ago.
We are convinced that the best is yet to come. That’s why we published our ideal crypto asset portfolio for 2019 in our blockchain & crypto investing research service. You too can have access to our crypto portfolio instantly >>
