According to the announcement today, the appointment was made by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which mostly own Bakkt. It came after the departure of the ex CEO Kelly Loeffler, who left the company to replace the United States retiring Sen. Johnny Isakson.
Under the new role of a CEO, Mike is expected to manage the chart of Bakkt’s strategic direction, payment products, and markets. The new position enables him to oversee the financial and regulatory performance of Bakkt.
While expressing satisfaction, the Founder, Chairman and CEO of ICE, Jeffrey Sprecher, said: "His more than 25 years of experience in payments across product, engineering, strategy and operations will continue to serve us well.”
While Mike spearheads the company's directions, Adam White, who initially served as Chief Operating Officer, will also take part in Bakkt’s strategic direction as President.
Following his wide range of experience in crypto markets, White is said to oversee the digital asset markets, custody, and trading for Bakkt.
Notably, the newly launched Bakkt has secured a position as a global leader in the digital assets space. This could be related to its highly sought-after services, such as the fully-regulated bitcoin futures and options market listed on ICE Futures U.S.
Recently, Bakkt made its storage facility dubbed ‘Bakkt Warehouse,’ available to institutional investors for bitcoin custody services.
As reported, the company received approval from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) to enable this service which was only open to investors trading the Bakkt Bitcoin Futures contracts.
Meanwhile, the company plans to launch new services by next year, such as trading products, an innovative consumer payments app, etc, to keep up with the momentum as a major player in the industry.