Kelly Loeffler, the chief executive of institutional Bitcoin futures platform Bakkt, is expected to be picked by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp for a seat in the United States Senate this week, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The selection is in defiance to President Trump’s insistence on the appointment of Representative Doug Collins, a fierce defender of the President during the impeachment inquiry. If approved, Loeffler would take over the Senate seat vacated by three-term Senator Johnny Jackson, but she will have to contest re-election in 2020.
Fantastic News for Bakkt and Bitcoin
In her application, Loeffler said:
“If chosen, I will stand with President Trump, Senator David Perdue [the other Georgia senator, a Republican], and you to Keep America Great.”
While many may take a stab at her political experience and how it fits into the GOP agenda, the news of her candidacy is great for Bitcoin.
Across the world, cryptocurrencies are shaping how people live and make payments, but in the U.S., adoption has been limited to speculative purposes. Regulatory pushback and insufficient depth of knowledge from lawmakers have stifled the widespread adoption of Bitcoin in the U.S.
With lawmakers like Loeffler, changes could be on the horizon for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general. Besides having industry cryptocurrency knowledge, Loeffler runs a well-funded cryptocurrency financial services company, Bakkt, whose backers include Microsoft and Starbucks. She also has first-hand experience of how regulatory knuckle-dragging can hurt the prospects of a company in the cryptocurrency space.
Bringing Institutions Into Cryptocurrency
Loeffler and her husband, Jeffrey C. Sprecher (CEO of Intercontinental Exchange and Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange), started Bakkt in 2018 as a means of bringing institutions closer to the cryptocurrency sector. After the Bitcoin boom of 2017, institutions were itching to get their hands on some crypto-denominated financial products, and Bakkt was the ICE’s means of fulfilling their desires. To bridge that gap, Bakkt launched its Bitcoin futures contracts in September 2019 despite numerous regulatory pushbacks.
Despite a sluggish start, interest in the Bakkt Bitcoin futures platform has risen to respectable levels, but it continues to fluctuate. Last week, it saw a dramatic increase to an all-time high of 5,671 traded contracts at $42.52 million, as BeInCrypto has previously reported. Yesterday’s volumes dipped, as it sold 2,328 contracts for a total value of $17.02 million.
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