Kelly Loeffler, former CEO of Bakkt, recently took a seat in the United States Senate for the state of Georgia. However, reports indicate that she is also assigned to serve on the Senate Agriculture Committee with the CFTC. Since her husband is the CEO of the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), this could raise concerns about a potential conflict of interest.
Kelly Loeffler quickly became one of the most influential people within the cryptocurrency space. She used to be the CEO of Bakkt, the futures trading platform of Bitcoin released by ICE.
The latter also owns the New York Stock Exchange. The regulated nature of Bakkt, as well as the institutional focus, raised many hopes that it will serve as a bridge between Bitcoin and the biggest investors.
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Former Bakkt CEO Joins CFTC Committee
Since their volume is continually increasing, this could indicate that institutional interest is really on the rise. However, Loeffler recently took a seat in the United States Senate for the state of Georgia.
Now, the Wall Street Journal informs that she is also assigned to serve on the Senate Agriculture Committee with the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The Committee is responsible for defining CFTC approval nominations and forwarding to the chairmen and commissioners.
Perhaps rightly so, the news raised concerns that this could cause a conflict of interest. This is due to the fact that her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, is the founder, president, and CEO of ICE.
Some don't seem to agree very much
Loeffler's appointment to the committee, in fact, raised some eyebrows. However, he quickly responded to comments and said there was "worked hard to comply with the standard and spirit of the Senate ethics rules and will continue to do so every day .. I will judge myself if necessary on a case-by-case basis..
It is true that Loeffler left his CEO position at Bakkt as soon as he took the Senate seat. In his place now sits Mike Blandina, who has previously held leadership positions at PayPal, Google, and other major companies.
However, it is also worth noting that Bakkt received approval from the CFTC to offer its Bitcoin futures contract settled with cryptocurrencies. However, most of the concerns appear to stem from his relationship with the CEO of ICE, rather than his previous position at Bakkt.
