Mike Blandina, former PayPal and Google veteran, is stepping down from his function because the CEO of digital belongings firm, Bakkt, after solely
Mike Blandina, former PayPal and Google veteran, is stepping down from his function because the CEO of digital belongings firm, Bakkt, after solely four months on the job.
Intercontinental Trade, or ICE, the mother or father firm of Bakkt, has indicated that its Vice President of mergers and acquisitions, Daivd Clifton, will succeed Blandina as the corporate’s CEO. Adam White, the corporate’s president, will keep his function, in line with an announcement on April 23.
The brand new press launch didn’t elaborate on Blandina’s future plans. It solely famous that he’s “leaving the corporate to pursue a brand new alternative.”
The brand new CEO’s function
Clifton joined ICE in 2008. He reportedly performed a number one function within the 2013 acquisition of NYSE Euronext. He’ll now deal with finishing the combination of Bridge2 Options. Bridge2 is a number one supplier of loyalty options for retailers and shoppers which Bakkt acquired in early February 2020. Jeffrey Sprecher, ICE Chairman and CEO, added:
“David Clifton has been deeply engaged in lots of our most essential initiatives through the years and, after serving to to guide the acquisition of Bridge2 to speed up the rollout of Bakkt’s shopper software, I do know he’ll present excellent management for Bakkt as its Interim CEO.”
In 2019, Bakkt partnered with ICE to launch the primary absolutely regulated bitcoin futures and choices marketplace for world establishments. The corporate is now constructing a retail-focused app the place folks can flip rewards factors right into a spendable digital foreign money.
As Cointelegraphy reported beforehand, Blandina joined Bakkt a 12 months in the past as chief product officer. He was promoted to the place of CEO after the founding CEO, Kelly Loeffler, left for a United States Senate seat in early December final 12 months.