ICE-founded Bakkt CEO confirms that “crypto is not going away” despite increased volatility
The cryptocurrency market meltdown in 2022 has partly cast doubt on the sustainability of the sector, with investors incurring losses. In particular, the crash has registered damages, with several businesses going bankrupt.
However, CEO of Digital Assets Management firm Bakkt Gavin Michael, while speaking during an interview with Yahoo Finance on August 19, suggested that the crypto market is here to stay.
Noting that there is still interest from private and institutional investors, the executive stated that most entities are now familiar with how the sector operates, especially with the volatility aspect.
According to Michael, after the recent falls, interest in the market is driven by the possibility of embarking on a rally in 2023.
“Crypto is not going away, there is still strong interest and momentum with our partners, many of whom are multinationals, so they have been following this space for a long time. They understand the peaks and troughs that we see, we also see that consumer interest in crypto remains solid. <…> We expect to activate our crypto services in the second half of the year, and we will see a significant increase through 2023, said Michael.
Bakkt’s growing foray into crypto
In particular, Bakkt, which operates a crypto trading platform for institutional investors, continues to expand its foray into the digital asset space. Recently, the platform announced a partnership with Visa (NYSE: V ) to offer crypto debit and credit cards.
Furthermore, the ICE-founded platform has an existing partnership with Mastercard (NYSE: MA) that enables companies to offer crypto as part of their loyalty rewards programs.
Michael adds to the list of cryptocurrency players divided over the market’s next course of action.
This comes after the overall crypto sector failed to sustain its recent two-month rally, with Bitcoin (BTC) facing a battle to maintain its price above $20,000. At press time, the flagship crypto was trading at $21,300
Notably, as reported by Finbold, Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Commodity Strategist Mike McGlone has argued that after crashing in the first half of 2022, the crypto market is poised to lead other asset classes in a rally in the second half of 2022.
Skepticism about market crashes
Elsewhere, economist and Bitcoin skeptic Peter Schiff has argued that recent gains in crypto markets gave investors a chance to cash out. According to Schiff, the recent crash in the crypto market indicated an upcoming bubble bursting for the market.
It’s worth mentioning that in the midst of the selloff, crypto-lending platforms Celsius and Voyager Digital filed for bankruptcy, citing volatility issues. At the same time, entities such as crypto exchange platform Coinbase have been forced to restructure their businesses in response to the new market reality.
