Bakkt, the bitcoin futures exchange, has faced a series of roadblocks this year which has forced the team to delay their launch multiple times. Now the launch has been delayed indefinitely, as the team waits until they are granted approval by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The ongoing government shutdown in the US has reportedly played a major role in the recent approval delays.
However, Bakkt is still making progress. This week, CoinDesk reported that Bakkt has launched a hiring campaign, posting eight new positions to their website.
According to the listing, Bakkt is seeking experienced developers for mobile and blockchain applications, an institutional sales manager with experience in North America or Asia; and three management positions including a director of finance, director of security engineering and director for blockchain engineering.
Bakkt is a platform developed and funded by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Bakkt is one of many institutional organizations from the legacy financial system to recently enter the cryptocurrency industry, but they are by far the most established and well connected. As CryptoGlobe reported late last year, Adam White, former Vice President and General Manager at Coinbase recently joined Bakkt as their chief operating officer.
The backing of regulated institutions like ICE will undoubtedly make many investors more comfortable trading cryptocurrencies. However, not everyone is excited about traditional financial institutions getting involved in cryptocurrency markets. Last year, CryptoGlobe reported that Dogecoin creator Jackson Palmer warned his followers about Bakkt specifically, suggesting that institutional influence could turn the cryptocurrency industry into "Wall Street 2.0."
Do good work, earn a "badger" - that's the idea behind a new incentive launched by Microsoft and blockchain gaming project Enjin.
Cointelegraph has announced the launch of its Cointelegraph Consulting division, which is focused on advancing enterprise blockchain adoption by helping companies understand the potential of blockchain and then matching them with enterprise vendors to implement solutions.
China's Great Firewall, used by the government to regulate access to foreign internet sites, has blocked one of the most popular sources of Ethereum blockchain data.
The Stellar Development Foundation has burned 55 billion of its XLM tokens, over half the cryptocurrency’s supply, CEO Denelle Dixon announced from the stage of the Stellar Meridian conference Monday.
American multinational retail corporation, Walmart, has announced that it would be partnering with Ripple partners, MoneyGram and Ria, to power its Walmart2World money transfer service across its 4,700 stores.