Intercontinental Exchange acquires Loyalty Program Provider Bridge2 Solutions

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has agreed to acquire Bridge2 Solutions. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Bridge2 Solutions is a leading provider of Loyalty Programs. ICE owns the majority of stake in its subsidiary Bakkt, formed to offer a federally regulated Bitcoin market or digital assets and turn bitcoin into globally trusted currency.

The announcement noted that Bakkt plans to acquire Bridge2 solutions from ICE. To do that, Bakkt plans to use money from its latest Series B funding round.

Executive Opinion

Founder, Chairman and CEO of ICE, Jeffrey Sprecher, said, "Bakkt was created to help bring transparency and trust to the previously unregulated digital asset markets. With the launch of the Bakkt Warehouse and Bakkt futures and options markets, the company has achieved quick success with its custody and trading offering. Bakkt’s second round of funding, and its acquisition of Bridge2 Solutions, will help accelerate the development of Bakkt’s consumer application, which has been a key part of our strategy since we first looked at this market.”

CEO of Bakkt, Mike Blandina, "With the launch of the Bakkt app, we will, for the first time, offer consumers a robust platform to consolidate and use all of their digital assets, from crypto to loyalty points to in game tokens, in one user-friendly wallet. Combining Bridge2 Solutions’ embedded relationships with banks and merchants and their innovative Loyalty Pay solution will enable us to launch new products that further drive loyalty and empower consumers to trade, transfer and spend digital assets in entirely new ways."

Bakkt's Consumer App 

The global ecosystem for digital assets represents over $1.2 trillion in value. The digital rewards, loyalty points, in-game virtual assets, merchant stored value, gift cards, and cryptocurrencies are part of that ecosystem.

Bridge2 solutions are powers 4,500 loyalty, incentive and employee perk programs for companies including seven of the top ten financial institutions, notes the announcement.

Loyalty Pay solution allows the point of sale (POS) at retail stores and digital wallets app to extend rewards to consumers in terms of rewards currencies. Bakkt plans to integrate Bridge2 solution with their app. This will possibly allow them to offer loyalty programs to their customers that could also include cryptocurrencies or some form of digital assets.