Bakkt boss to leave for JPMorgan: source

By Anna Irrera and Noor Zainab Hussain

(Reuters) – The top boss of Bakkt, Mike Blandina, will leave the cryptocurrency trading platform to join JPMorgan Chase & Co to work in payments, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Bakkt’s majority-owner Intercontinental Exchange Inc on Thursday appointed David Clifton as interim chief executive officer to replace Blandina.

Clifton joined ICE in 2008 and is currently its vice president, M&A and integration.

The exchange operator said https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200423005712/en/Intercontinental-Exchange-Appoints-David-Clifton-Interim-CEO Blandina, who was appointed CEO of Bakkt in late December, is leaving to pursue a new opportunity.

A JPMorgan spokeswoman declined to comment.

Blandina had taken over https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191223005251/en/Intercontinental-Exchange-Appoints-Mike-Blandina-CEO-Bakkt at Bakkt from Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed to the U.S. Senate.

Baakt, one of the most well-known cryptocurrency initiatives by an established financial institution, offers trading in physically delivered bitcoin futures – bitcoins are delivered to the Bakkt warehouse when the contracts expire.

(Reporting by Anna Irrera in New York and Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)