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Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading operator of global exchanges and clearing houses and provider of data and listings services, has appointed Mike Blandina as CEO of Bakkt, the digital assets trading and payments platform that is majority-owned by ICE. Adam White will serve as President of the company. The appointments took effect December 20, following the departure of founding CEO Kelly Loeffler, who has been appointed to the United States Senate to fill the seat of retiring Sen. Johnny Isakson.
Blandina joined Bakkt earlier this year as Chief Product Officer, following leadership roles at OneMarket, Westfield, PayPal, Google and the Blackhawk Network, among other key positions in the payments space. White joined Bakkt as Chief Operating Officer after the company’s launch in 2018, following a longtime leadership role at Coinbase, bringing extensive crypto expertise to the firm. White began his career testing experimental aircraft as an officer in the U.S. Air Force.
“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,” said Jeffrey Sprecher, Founder, Chairman and CEO of ICE. “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.”
In its first full year of operation, Bakkt has established a leading global position in digital assets. Among the company’s notable milestones and achievements in 2019, it launched the first fully regulated bitcoin futures and options market with ICE Futures U.S. That market is supported by the Bakkt Warehouse, a regulated bitcoin custody offering which allows institutions around the world to safeguard their assets using Bakkt’s enterprise-grade technology and infrastructure.
Earlier this week, Bakkt set a new volume record of 6,226 physically delivered BakktTM Bitcoin (USD) Futures contracts traded at ICE Futures U.S., an increase of more than 25% from the company’s previous record. Bakkt plans to build on this momentum in 2020 with a product road map including new trading products, an expanded custody offering, an innovative consumer payments app, along with additional innovations to be announced.
