Bakkt hit the news again today:
Crypto Exchange Bakkt Nears Merger With Victory Park SPAC
Bakkt, the cryptocurrency platform majority owned by Intercontinental Exchange Inc., is in advanced talks to go public through a merger with blank-check firm VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The transaction is set to value the combined entity at more than $2 billion, and an announcement may come as soon as next week, said the people.
Looks like ICE is dumping the investment, in my opinion.
Bakkt had the purpose of servicing physical bitcoins to institutional investors, but ultimately lost the battle with CME:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftalkimg.com%2Fimages%2F2023%2F05%2F16%2Fbloba6fc849c650c28c1.png&t=665&c=eLstMVr43CLlXw)
Trading volumes are tiny, compared to CME.
Volumes on less-regulated exchanges are multiple but probably inflated by training bot activities.
Looking at the more relevant Open Interest positions (Institutional money usually leaves the position open over long periods of time, while day trader usually close their position overnight, leaving no traces on Open Interest the CME gains relevance, but Bakkt still is a tiny fraction:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftalkimg.com%2Fimages%2F2023%2F05%2F16%2Fblob7406dd866b12fa5e.png&t=665&c=fH6nn5c648gEIw)