Bakkt CEO Confirms Firm Has No Plans to Support XRP

Bakkt, the digital asset marketplace backed by Intercontinental Exchange Inc, has revealed that it has no plans to support XRP coin, the digital asset closely associated with blockchain-based payment firm Ripple Labs Inc. Per a report from Cointelegraph, the no-plan prospects for XRP coin by Bakkt was revealed by the company’s Chief Executive Officer Gavin Michael who had a sit out with the Axios Re:Cap podcast to discuss the mainstream adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital assets.

The CEO confirmed the firm’s plans to go public through a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) partnership with a Victory Park Capital-backed SPAC. The CEO also affirmed that Bakkt aims to roll out a number of altcoins excluding the XRP coin. He however did not confirm if the firm’s decision was based on the ongoing Ripple court duel with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

“We entered the crypto space through Bitcoin, and that was our first currency we’ve made available. We have others that are scheduled to come on board as part of the product development. But XRP is not available,” he noted.

Bakkt Joins Other Exchanges Delisting XRP

The legal action the SEC took against Ripple has tremendously influenced how exchanges particularly those in the United States are relating with the coin. The initial moves by many of these exchanges involve the halting of XRP trades on their platform which correspondingly sent down the price of the coin.

Following this, many exchanges began delisting the coin with the biggest straw coming from the Coinbase exchange. The move from Bakkt further complements the decision of Coinbase and other exchanges including Binance US, OKCoin which had removed XRP coin from their platforms. While these exchanges have taken the bearish position on XRP, Uphold, an exchange founded in 2014 has confirmed that it will not withhold its support for XRP until when the lawsuit has been decided in court.

The incessant delisting of the XRP coin brought it to a bearish close in 2020 as many investors sought ways to offload their holdings as the uncertainty around the cryptocurrency beckons. While the coin is currently aiming at shedding off the losses of the past days, many still believe that the refusal of major exchanges like Bakkt and Coinbase to support the fourth largest cryptocurrency can still be anathema to its potential longer-term price performance and sustainability.

At the time of writing, XRP is trading at $0.2957 per coin with a gain of 4.90% in the past 24 hours according to CoinMarketCap.