Bakkt是一家旨在使華爾街的比特幣交易變得更加安全的虛擬貨幣交易公司。該公司近日進行的一筆收購表明，這家公司正在加快推進在線支付方式的革新，屆時人們無論是買咖啡還是買車，購買方式或許都將與現(xiàn)在完全不同。

Bakkt是由紐交所的所有者創(chuàng)辦的一家公司。本周一，該公司宣布將收購羅森塔爾柯林斯集團（RCG）旗下的部分資產(chǎn)。RCG是一家擁有百年歷史的期貨經(jīng)紀公司，擅長通過銀行清算所轉移資金、處理抵押品以及指導交易，以最大程度降低違約風險。

2018年12月，有消息稱RCG的消費者賬戶業(yè)務將出售給業(yè)內(nèi)最大的玩家之一。Bakkt公司的CEO凱麗·萊夫勒在接受《財富》雜志采訪時首次談及了此次交易：“一般來說，兩家公司合并時，有些系統(tǒng)會重疊，所以我們想收購一部分后臺業(yè)務，包括合規(guī)管理、資金服務以及風險管理，此外也要添加一些RCG團隊的成員。”因此，Bakkt實際上是收購了RCG的部分后臺業(yè)務。

RCG以往主要關注機構方面。萊夫勒強調(diào)，Bakkt將把RCG的專長應用到一個全新的領域，以優(yōu)化顧客和商家之間的支付模式。萊夫勒表示：“機構之間不是這樣交易的。在我們打造Bakkt的過程中，這筆收購將對我們的消費業(yè)務提供幫助。”

Bakkt是于2018年年初成立的，它的主要投資者是紐交所的所有者洲際交易所（ICE）。在成立伊始，Bakkt便雄心勃勃地公布了一個此前從未有人實現(xiàn)過的計劃——建立美國第一個受聯(lián)邦政府全面監(jiān)管的比特幣交易和存儲交易所。其目標是使比特幣的交易變得更安全，使得華爾街銀行和各大金融機構可以放心設立數(shù)字加密貨幣ETF基金和共同基金，以滿足日益增長的交易需求——特別是在千禧一代中的需求。Bakkt公司認為，所有這些交易產(chǎn)生的“飛輪效應”將使比特幣（或者另一種占主導地位的虛擬貨幣）轉變成一種高流動性的商業(yè)貨幣，并消彌其價格的巨大波動性。

Bakkt公司的第二個也是同等重要的目標，是改革現(xiàn)有的零售支付系統(tǒng)。在目前的零售支付系統(tǒng)中，我們每在收銀臺支付1美元，商家都要支付高昂的手續(xù)費。萊夫勒對《財富》雜志表示：“區(qū)塊鏈技術的發(fā)展，為數(shù)字資產(chǎn)在消費者和商家層面作為一種有效支付機制提供了新的可能性。”

那么，這個支付機制是如何工作的呢？“首先，它可以在移動應用程序中使用。”萊夫勒表示，Bakkt公司已經(jīng)與星巴克合作構建相關模板。“想想現(xiàn)在的星巴克的應用，你可以在一個數(shù)字應用中預存或預付一定的金額。而我們則是通過比特幣預先儲值，目標是使消費者可以在購買數(shù)字貨幣或法定貨幣之間做出選擇。”

2018年12月，萊夫勒宣布，Bakkt將把它的機構交易平臺延遲至今年1月24日上線。同時她透露，Bakkt已經(jīng)從12位投資者手中拉到了1.825億美元融資，投資者包括香港富商李嘉誠、銀河數(shù)字（Galaxy Digital）的邁克·諾沃格拉茨等。平臺上線的時間要取決于監(jiān)管審查的結果，而美國政府目前正陷入部分關門的狀態(tài)，包括很多監(jiān)管機構也是如此。Bakkt已經(jīng)向美國商品期貨交易委員會提交了申請，目前仍在等待批準。萊夫勒表示：“政府關門導致這個過程被延遲了。”

萊夫勒表示：Bakkt公司的野心還遠不止于此。該公司已經(jīng)開始進軍海外，并且已經(jīng)與部分國家的監(jiān)管機構進行了商談。除了美國洲際期貨交易所外，ICE在全球還擁有多家世界知名的大宗商品交易所，如歐洲洲際期貨交易所、新加坡洲際期貨交易所等。萊夫勒表示：“Bakkt被設計成了一家全球化的公司。”到目前為止，在做面向華爾街和廣大消費者的虛擬貨幣平臺上，Bakkt也是下注最重的一個主要金融機構。

萊夫勒認為：“人們只狹隘地關注比特幣的價格，但區(qū)塊鏈和數(shù)字加密貨幣技術都在不斷進步。”比特幣市場當然需要一針強心劑，而Bakkt則很有可能帶來這樣一針強心劑。（財富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：樸成奎

Bakkt aims to make Bitcoin trading safe for Wall Street. Now, a new acquisition confirms that the cryptocurrency trading company is speeding its plans to revolutionize the way people pay for everything from coffee to cars.

On Monday Bakkt, which was launched by the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, announced the acquisition of assets owned by Group, a century-old futures commissions merchant. As an FCM, Rosenthal Collins specializes in managing commodities accounts for investors and institutions by moving money, handling collateral, and steering trades through bank-owned clearinghouses with minimal risk of default.

In December 2018, it was announced that the consumer accounts franchise of RCG would be sold to one of the industry’s largest players, Marex. Bakkt’s CEO Kelly Loeffler tells Fortune in her first interview discussing the new deal, whose price wasn’t disclosed: “Typically when companies are combined you have overlapping systems, so we saw an opportunity to a purchase a portion of the back office operations, including compliance and treasury services, and risk management, as well as adding members of the RCG team.” Bakkt is essentially buying part of Rosenthal’s back office.

Rosenthal traditionally focused on the institutional side. Loeffler emphasizes that Bakkt will use its expertise in an entirely new area to support its vision for streamlining payments between customers and merchants. “It’s not so institutions can trade,” says Loeffler. “The acquisition will aid our consumer business as we build Bakkt.”

At its launch in early 2018, Bakkt––its majority investor is NYSE owner Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)––announced a never-before-achieved ambition in the digital world: to create the first fully-federally regulated exchange for trading and warehousing Bitcoin. Its goal was to make trading so safe for Wall Street that the big banks and institutions would create cryptocurrency ETFs and mutual fund to satisfy mushrooming demand, especially from millennials. The “flywheel effect” generated by all that trading, Bakkt reckons, will transform Bitcoin, or another dominant token, into a highly-liquid commercial currency, eliminating the gigantic gyrations in price.

From the start, Bakkt has harbored a second, parallel goal: To transform the retail payments system where merchants pay steep fees for every dollar you and I pay at the checkout counter. “The evolution of blockchain technology opens new possibilities for digital assets to serve as an an efficient payments mechanism at the consumer and merchant level,” Loeffler tells Fortune.

How would the payments work? “At first, it will be available for use in apps,” says Loeffler, noting that Bakkt is partnering with Starbucks to build the template. “Think about today’s Starbucks app. You can pre-fund a prepaid or stored value card with a digital app. The first use case is to pre-fund the cards, with Bitcoin. The goal is to give consumers the choice between purchasing with digital or fiat currency.”

In December 2018, Loeffler announced that Bakkt would delay the launch of its institutional trading platform until January 24. At the same time, she disclosed that Bakkt has raised $182.5 million from 12 investors, including such pioneers in backing cryptocurrencies as Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing and Mike Novogratz of Galaxy Digital. The timing of the launch is based on regulatory review, and the government is now partially shutdown, including the regulatory agencies. Bakkt has completed its application to the CFTC but awaits approval. “The government shutdown is delaying the process,” Loeffler says.

But Bakkt’s ambitions are greater than ever, Loeffler says. The startup is already going global and has begun discussions with regulators outside the U.S. ICE owns a number of the world’s biggest commodities exchanges besides ICE Futures US, the market that will handle domestic business, including ICE Futures Europe and ICE Futures Singapore. “Bakkt is being designed as a global business,” says Loeffler. Bakkt represents the biggest bet yet by a major financial player to bring crypto-currencies both to Wall Street and masses of consumers.

“People focus narrowly on Bitcoin’s price, but blockchain and crypto-currency technology keep advancing,” she says. Bitcoin certainly needs a boost; Bakkt could very well help provide it.