Bakkt Overhauls Strategy: New Co-CEO, Custody Business Divestiture, and Crypto Infrastructure Focus
Digital asset and payments platform Bakkt is undergoing a significant strategic shift, as announced on March 19, 2025, following its Q4 and full-year 2024 earnings report. The company is making major moves to reshape its business, including divesting its Trust custody business, appointing Akshay Naheta as co-CEO, and charting a new course towards becoming a pure-play crypto infrastructure provider.
This strategic pivot comes after a series of setbacks, including the non-renewal of commercial agreements with Bank of America and Webull. Webull, in particular, represented a significant portion of Bakkt’s crypto services revenue. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), it was revealed that Webull accounted for approximately 74% of Bakkt’s crypto services earnings.
“As we move forward to a pure play crypto ecosystem player, [the divestiture] enables us to double down on our core offerings — providing institutional-grade crypto trading, liquidity, and subject to applicable regulatory approvals, payment solutions,” said Andy Main, CEO of Bakkt. This statement underlines the company’s dedication to its revised business model, which will focus on providing essential services to the crypto market infrastructure.
Bakkt has entered into a decisive agreement to sell its Trust custody business to Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). This will permit Bakkt to focus on crypto trading, liquidity, and payment solutions for institutional-grade clients. Concurrently, the company is assessing options for its Loyalty business, a segment that played a crucial role in Bakkt’s original strategy.
According to Main, the appointment of Naheta as co-CEO is a pivotal moment for Bakkt, particularly in expanding its innovative capabilities. “As we enter 2025, Bakkt is sharpening its focus on the future of crypto, leveraging our technology, market expertise and strategic partnerships to be in a position to capitalize on the opportunities ahead,” he stated. Bakkt has formed a strategic alliance with Distributed Technologies Research (DTR), a stablecoin payments platform, to strengthen its position in the global stablecoin payments network.
While total revenues for Q4 2024 experienced a substantial increase of 737.9% year-over-year, reaching $1.797 billion, the company also reported a net loss of $40.4 million for the quarter and reported decreasing adjusted EBITDA losses of only $6.4 million. With revenue projections between $1.03 billion and $1.28 billion for Q1 2025, Bakkt is relying on increased crypto market adoption and solid positioning in the institutional space.
This transformation signals a departure from Bakkt’s initial focus on bridging traditional finance with digital assets via loyalty programs and consumer-friendly crypto solutions. Instead, Bakkt is repositioning itself as a key player in the underlying infrastructure that powers digital asset markets.
