Bakkt to buy stablecoin payments provider, issues over 9M shares

Bakkt Holdings said it has agreed to acquire Distributed Technologies Research, a stablecoin and fiat payments infrastructure provider. Under the agreement Bakkt will issue more than nine million shares of its Class A common stock to Distributed Technologies Research shareholders.

At the time of publication, Bakkt (BKKT) shares on the New York Stock Exchange were $19.54, having surged more than 20% in the previous 24 hours, which would make the deal worth more than $178 million. "The acquisition will allow Bakkt to consolidate a critical piece of its stablecoin settlement infrastructure and prepares the company to launch its neobanking strategy with multiple distribution partners in the coming months," said Mike Alfred, the director and member of the special committee of Bakkt’s board.

Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the NYSE and a 31% shareholder of Bakkt’s Class A common stock, will vote in favor of the deal. Akshay Naheta, who founded Distributed Technologies Research in 2022, will remain CEO of Bakkt following the merger. Bakkt said the merger is part of a strategy to form a "unified financial infrastructure platform" and expand payment and banking use cases in 2026.

The company said the deal is subject to regulatory and shareholder approval.

Key Topics

Crypto, Bakkt, Distributed Technologies Research, Stablecoin Payments, Intercontinental Exchange, Akshay Naheta