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Bitcoin is down by greater than 60% from its all-time excessive, however Bakkt’s CEO says the main cryptocurrency isn’t going away.

Gavin Michael, the CEO of ICE-owned Bakkt, told Yahoo Finance in an interview on Friday that Bitcoin isn’t going away. He made this assertion at a time when Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market are underperforming. 

Michael mentioned institutional curiosity in cryptocurrencies is rising regardless of the continuing bear market. He mentioned;

“There’s still strong interest and momentum with our partners, many of whom are multinational companies… They understand the peaks and troughs that we’re seeing. [But] we are anticipating that the partners may move at a slightly more conservative pace. They’re being more thoughtful about how they enter the crypto economy.”

The crypto market has seen its whole market cap drop from $2.2 trillion at first of the yr to at present stand round $1 trillion. Despite that, Michael mentioned he expects Bakkt to stay engaged with its crypto companies within the second half of the yr, and expects a large ramp-up via 2023. He mentioned;

“We’re seeing this change in narrative, if you like, from crypto being viewed simply as an investable asset to a more widespread utility across consumers, across businesses, and across institutions. So our work is about working with our partners to really unleash [crypto’s] functionality and its full utility.”

The bear market is a time to develop, and Bakkt has been doing simply that. The firm, which operates a crypto buying and selling platform for institutional buyers, announced a new partnership with Visa earlier this month and has an present partnership with Mastercard. 

The partnership with Visa will see Bakkt supply crypto debit and bank cards, making it simpler for shoppers to pay utilizing cryptocurrencies. 

Bakkt’s partnership with Mastercard empowers firms to supply crypto as a part of their loyalty reward applications. Michael mentioned;

“We’re seeing consumers who value their loyalty points even more in this challenging economic environment. They see it as a way to offset rising costs.”

Bakkt’s income elevated by 60% within the second half of the yr, because of the gross sales progress from shoppers redeeming loyalty factors for crypto.