finbold.com
Intercontinental Exchange’s crypto business, Bakkt, has announced the mass-delisting of multiple digital assets including prominent DeFi tokens.
A spokesperson for Bakkt stated that “following the closing of our acquisition of Apex Crypto and as part of our regular coin listing review process, we have made the decision to delist a number of coins on the platform”, Coindesk reported on Friday.
The company’s representative added that the move was made to ensure that Bakkt’s clients and their consumers’ best interests are served while contemplating the latest industry developments and regulatory guidance.
Delisted tokens
The full list includes these 23 cryptocurrencies that are being removed from the exchange: Aave (AAVE), Avalanche (AVAX), Bancor Network Token (BNT), Basic Attention Token (BAT), Chainlink (LINK), Chiliz (CHZ), Compound Token (COMP), Cosmos (ATOM), Curve DAO (CRV), Enjin Coin (ENJ), Fantom (FTM), Filecoin (FIL), GALA (GALA), The Graph (GRT), Internet Computer (ICP), Loopring (LRC), Maker DAO (MKR), Republic (REN), Stellar (XLM), Sushiswap (SUSHI), Synthetix (SNX), Texos (XTZ), and Uniswap (UNI).
Bakkt agreed to acquire Apex Crypto in November 2021, and the deal was finalized on April 1, 2022. The acquisition was part of Bakkt’s shift towards B2B and away from retail, as the company had recently closed its consumer crypto trading app after two years of operation.
The exchange has struggled to gain traction in the market, posting quarterly revenues of $13 million last quarter, 10% below the average analyst estimate. Bakkt’s stock is up 3.45% year-to-date, but down nearly 40% over the last six months.
Overall, Bakkt’s move to delist certain tokens is not entirely surprising given the increasing regulatory scrutiny of the crypto industry. However, it remains to be seen whether this move will help Bakkt’s business fortunes in the long run.
Bakkt is a cryptocurrency exchange and digital assets platform that was launched in 2018 by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) which is designed to make it easier for institutional investors to buy, sell, store, and spend cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC).
The platform has partnerships with major companies like Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), which allows customers to use Bitcoin to pay for coffee and other products.