Appointment of ex-CEO of Bakkt as senator could constitute conflict of interest

Kelly Loeffler, spouse of the president ofICE and ex-director of Bakkt, joined the Senate Committee on Agriculture, an organization that works directly with the policeman of the American stock exchange CFTC, revealing a risk of conflict of interest.

On its website, the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee announced the appointment of Kelly Loeffler as a senator.

In December Loeffler stepped down as CEO of Bakkt, a startup owned by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the giant owner of the New York stock market.

ICE is a company founded and managed by Jeffrey Sprecher and it turns out that the latter is none other than Loeffler’s husband. The fact that Sprecher manages and owns a minority stake in a large marketplace like ICE would cast doubt on a potential conflict of interest.

By serving on the Agriculture Committee, Loeffler will in particular have to define the mandate of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), an agency responsible for regulating US exchanges, as well as approving the appointments of its commissioners and presidents.

"I have worked hard to abide by the spirit of the Senate rules of ethics and would continue to do so," said Loeffler in an interview with WallStreetJournal.

Before joining Bakkt, who launched the first physically settled Bitcoin futures, Loeffler worked for more than 15 years at ICE as a marketing and communications manager.