Bakkt Ditches Custody Business, Names New Co-CEO, and Bets Everything on Crypto

Bakkt Holdings is blowing it all up and starting fresh.

The digital asset and payments platform on Monday (March 17) suffered a major blow when Bank of America and Webull announced they would not be renewing their commercial agreements with the company.

On Wednesday (March 19), after delaying twice, the digital asset and payments platform held its earnings call sharing the financial and operational results for the fourth quarter and full year 2024.

The big news? Bakkt signed a definitive agreement to get rid of its Trust custody business entirely, named a new co-CEO, and announced a pivot to “become a pure play crypto infrastructure company.”

Webull, per a Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), represented nearly three quarters (74%) of Bakkt’s crypto services revenue.

“As we move forward to a pure play crypto ecosystem player, [the divesture] 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.

Main also announced the appointment of Akshay Naheta as co-CEO.

“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. Our partnership with DTR [Distributed Technologies Research, founded by Naheta], combined with Akshay Naheta agreeing to joining as co-CEO, marks a pivotal moment by expanding our capabilities, and we believe will position us to be able to capture market share in the global stablecoin payments network,” he told investors on Wednesday’s call.

The company’s stock remained relatively flat, hovering around $9, after dropping by 30% to start the week. There was no Q&A session following Wednesday’s earnings call.

Read more: Bakkt Suffers Major Setback as Bank Partners Drop Platform

Focus on Core Offerings

Few companies have undergone as radical a transformation as Bakkt, which once sought to bridge traditional finance and digital assets through loyalty rewards and consumer-friendly crypto solutions, and is now pivoting to a focused strategy: becoming a full-fledged crypto infrastructure company.

Bakkt has entered into a strategic partnership with DTR, a stablecoin payments platform. This collaboration aims to enhance Bakkt’s capabilities in the global stablecoin payments network.

To concentrate on its core offerings, Bakkt has signed a definitive agreement to divest its Trust custody business to Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). This divestiture allows Bakkt to focus on providing institutional-grade crypto trading, liquidity and, subject to regulatory approvals, payment solutions.

Simultaneously, Bakkt is evaluating alternatives for its Loyalty business, a segment that once seemed integral. Whether through a sale or a full wind-down, the company is signaling to investors that its future is not in travel miles or gift card conversions but in digital asset markets, trading infrastructure and institutional-grade solutions.

Bakkt’s Q4 2024 earnings report, including leadership changes and divestitures, tells a story of aggressive restructuring, divestitures, and a shift toward high-volume crypto trading.

Bakkt reported total revenues of $1.797 billion for the quarter, an increase of 737.9% year over year. This surge is attributed to heightened crypto market activity and increased asset prices.​

Read more: Read also: The Stablecoin Market Is $220 Billion. Are Businesses Actually Using Them?

Despite the revenue growth, Bakkt reported a net loss of $40.4 million for the quarter, an improvement of 48.7% year over year. The adjusted EBITDA loss also decreased by 66.3% to $6.4 million, reflecting the company’s efforts to streamline operations and reduce costs.

Bakkt faces substantial headwinds. The nonrenewal of its Webull commercial contract, a key revenue stream, raises questions about its ability to maintain retail partnerships while shifting toward institutional business.

Moreover, the company’s dependence on volatile crypto markets means that external shocks — regulatory crackdowns, liquidity crunches or security breaches — could impact performance.

With revenue projections between $1.03 billion and $1.28 billion for Q1 2025, the company is betting on sustained crypto adoption and a deeper integration into the institutional space. Whether this gamble will pay off remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: Bakkt is no longer a consumer-facing crypto startup, it’s aiming to become instead a serious player in the infrastructure that powers digital asset markets.