The United States digital assets platform Bakkt announced its first funding round with a $182.5 million capital raise on December 31, according to a blog post published by the company. Bakkt, founded by the New York Stock Exchange, announced the completion of its first round of founding with the successful participation of 12 partners and investors who raised $182.5 million. Partners and investors, according to the blog post, includes "Boston Consulting Group, CMT Digital, Eagle Seven, Galaxy Digital, Goldfinch Partners, Alan Howard, Horizons Ventures, Intercontinental Exchange, Microsoft’s venture capital arm, M12, Pantera Capital, PayU, the fintech arm of Naspers, and Protocol Ventures." The company was founded in 2018, and it expects to launch its platforms on January 24, 2019. The company focus is to drive institutional access for digital assets. "We are focused on opportunities to provide new infrastructure, including the industry’s first institutional grade regulated exchange, clearing and warehousing services for physical delivery and storage," the post said. The firm is still waiting for the CFTC approval, and it is working to bring cryptocurrencies into 401K and retirement accounts across the United States. "Bakkt is designed to enable consumers and institutions to seamlessly buy, sell, store and spend digital assets," says the website. "Formed with the purpose of bringing trust, efficiency and commerce to digital assets, Bakkt seeks to develop open technology to connect existing market and merchant infrastructure to the blockchain."