Is it safe to say that Bakkt has been a total failure?
Bakkt Really Hasn’t Amounted to Much
It has been roughly one year since the institutional crypto trading platform came about, and one honestly wonders what it’s contributed to the space, especially when examining the latest trading figures the platform has been experiencing. For more than a month, bitcoin options have not been traded via the platform, and since June 15 of this year, the numbers for Bakkt have been stuck at a big fat zero.
To a degree, one could potentially argue that institutional investors are still struggling to retain a positive image of cryptocurrencies, though this can be swiftly pushed to the side given how much evidence suggests otherwise. For example, look at how well companies such as the CME Group in Chicago have been doing. What about Grayscale? The institutional investment platform recently announced more than $1 billion in total bitcoin investments for its second quarter.
This means the company garnered more than $300 million every month for a period of three months, so clearly institutional players are getting the message that crypto is here to stay, so why has Bakkt failed to attain any sort of positive reputation or interest from traders?
It’s possible that the shaky history behind Bakkt could potentially be coming back to haunt it. Let’s not forget that the platform began on relatively weak terms considering its opening was delayed for roughly 12 long months. Bakkt was initially slated to make its official debut at the end of 2018, but regulatory concerns and other legal issues potentially halted its grand opening until the final quarter of 2019.
When that time came, the period was met with relative cynicism. For example, the introduction of Bakkt caused a massive drop in the bitcoin price. At the time of its opening, the world’s number one cryptocurrency by market cap was trading beyond the $9,000 line, though once Bakkt debuted, the currency fell to roughly $8,100 within minutes. The maneuver proved too much for the asset to handle considering it ended the year at around $7,100.
Companies Like Derebit Have Proved Dominant
In addition, trading on Bakkt was less than stellar during its primary weekend. Trades amounted to almost nothing during the platform’s first 72 hours, and while things eventually picked up in spurts here and there, Bakkt has not had the lasting impression many analysts ultimately thought it would have, especially when compared with competing platforms such as CME or Derebit, which is based in Panama.
At the time of writing, the venture has reported more than $100 million in trade-based income since just last Tuesday alone. It is reported by data firms such as Skew that Derebit controls more than 90 percent of the total bitcoin options available to traders.
