The international regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies is improving, according to Bakkt chief product officer Dan O'Prey, who is eyeing retail expansion on the African continent. Overall, O'Prey sees positive long-term trends.
Speaking with Cointelegraph's US news editor Sam Bourgi at Bitcoin 2023, O'Prey described Bakkt as prioritizing its role as a “B2B2C” company over the past two years. As a result, it sees a "substantial portion of major institutional interest" focused on Bitcoin , despite the fallout from the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX. He said:
“We've seen a lot of ramifications and issues with companies, practices, and tokens in this space over the last year, and I think that's dragged Bitcoin down, even though those have nothing to do with Bitcoin.” Bitcoin benefits from the lack of clear regulation in the US relative to other cryptocurrencies, as regulators have established its status as a commodity. Still, O'Prey said that a general lack of clarity on the regulation of cryptocurrencies in the US has been the "most significant hurdle" to bitcoin adoption.
"Over the last three or four years, it's been a bit of a slow pace by doing the right things, but now we're in a stronger position and recent events have really highlighted the need for those practices." Bakkt's embedded transaction, payment and rewards retail platform only operates in the US, but Bakkt is planning to expand its retail activities internationally. According to the blockchain executive, the company is “working with some of our partners to identify jurisdictions where they may already be operating stock exchange es or looking to add cryptocurrency or already exist. ”O'Prey praised the EU's recently adopted regulations for cryptoasset markets: "Any kind of clarity is generally good. At least people know where they stand, they know how they work, they know they How to comply ,which enables businesses and institutions to participate in the space,” he said, adding that regions that provide clear regulation for cryptocurrencies will “receive a massive inflow of talent, capital [and] jobs.”
