Bakkt CEO resigns and joins JP Morgan

Following the departure of Mike Blandina, Intercontinental Exchange appointed David Clifton as CEO of his Bitcoin startup Bakkt.

In a press release, Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of Bakkt, announced the appointment of David Clifton as interim managing director of Bakkt.

David Clifton has been deeply involved in many of our most important initiatives over the years and, having helped lead the acquisition of Bridge2 to accelerate the deployment of the Bakkt consumer app, I know it will provide exceptional leadership to Bakkt, "said Jeffrey Sprecher, founder of ICE.

In ICE for 8 years and currently vice-president, Clifton played an important role in the operations of the company, notably with the acquisition of NYSE Euronext in 2013.

It thus replaces Mike Blandina, who leaves the company "to seize a new opportunity". According to Bloomberg, Blandina indeed joins JPMorgan Chase & Co as head of wholesale payments technology. Information confirmed by the powerful American financial institution.

I want to express our gratitude to Mike Blandina for his work in favor of the growth of Bakkt during an important transformation period and I wish him all the best in his new endeavor, "added Sprecher.

Mike Blandina had succeeded to Kelly Loeffler, CEO and founder of Bakkt, when she joined the United States Senate at the end of 2019.

This reshuffle comes about a month after Bakkt announced a new $ 300 million financing round.

Recently, the startup revealed that the chain of cafes Starbucks was starting to test its payment solution Bakkt Cash in its mobile app.