Bakkt's Crypto Cleanup: SOL, MATIC, And ADA Get The Boot Pending 'Further Clarity' From SEC

by Murtuza Merchant Benzinga Staff Writer

Zinger Key Points

Bakkt will wait for “further clarity on how to compliantly offer a more extensive list of coins.”
Acquisition of Apex Crypto expanded offerings, but company scaled back on tokens due to regulatory concerns.
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New York-based digital assets platform Bakkt has decided to remove three major cryptocurrencies Solana SOL/USD, Polygon MATIC/USD, and Cardano ADA/USD from its listings.

This move comes not long after Bakkt acquired Apex Crypto, a trading infrastructure provider, for $155 million.

Bakkt's General Counsel and Secretary, Marc D’Annunzio, told Fortune that the company has opted for a preemptive approach and will wait for “further clarity on how to compliantly offer a more extensive list of coins.”

This step by Bakkt is closely related to the lawsuits filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against prominent crypto exchanges Binance BNB/USD and Coinbase Global Inc COIN.

The SEC accused these platforms of providing customers with unregistered securities, marking the first instance in which it categorized Solana’s SOL, Polygon’s MATIC, and Cardano’s ADA as securities.

Initially, Bakkt provided just Bitcoin BTC/USD and Ethereum ETH/USD services, but the acquisition of Apex Crypto permitted an expansion in cryptocurrency options for its clientele.

However, keeping regulatory apprehensions in mind, Bakkt started to scale back on the number of tokens acquired from Apex.

Also Read: Binance Faces French Probe Over Alleged Regulatory Breaches And Money Laundering

During the vetting process, Bakkt instructed Apex Crypto to remove seven tokens from its list, which included the unsuccessful Terra and ZCash, a privacy coin.

Post the completion of the acquisition in early April, Bakkt removed Algorand ALGO/USD and Decentraland MANA/USD the day after they were designated as securities in an SEC lawsuit targeting Bittrex.

In May, Bakkt proceeded to remove 25 out of the remaining 36 tokens, with a representative attributing this to the company’s “regulatory coin listing review process” and adherence to the “most up-to-date regulatory guidance.”

Bakkt continues to list eight cryptocurrencies including Dogecoin DOGE/USD, Litecoin LITE/USD, USD Coin USDC/USD, Shiba Inu SHIB/USD, Bitcoin, and Ether.

Bakkt’s CEO, Gavin Michael, expressed his concerns, saying, “It’s fine to tell me where I can’t stand,” adding, “But you have to tell me how to operate.”