The Ledger: Bitcoin Meets NYSE, Bitmain Profits, McDonald’s Stablecoin

Don’t miss out: Veteran Fortune finance writer Shawn Tully got an exclusive, in-depth look at Bakkt, the new Bitcoin company started by Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange. Bakkt’s ambitions run the gamut from cryptocurrency trading to partnerships with Starbucks to allow you to buy lattes with Bitcoin. But all of this raises questions about the implications of one of Wall Street’s most centralized institutions—indeed, the company behind America’s biggest stock market—seeking to dominate the world of decentralized blockchain technology. As Tully writes, ICE’s “plan for bringing crypto to the masses runs contrary to what Bitcoin supporters typically champion. The purists favor Bitcoin’s ‘distributed’ architecture, and adamantly oppose putting a big exchange at the center of both the Bitcoin investment and payments systems.” Here’s…