Analysts told Decrypt the pivot sharpens focus but won’t easily close the gap with leaders like Coinbase.
Bakkt is exiting its loyalty rewards business and raising fresh capital as it pivots more fully toward digital asset infrastructure.
It’s set to sell the division to Project Labrador Holdco, a subsidiary of Roman DBDR Technology Advisors, for $11 million in cash.
The deal, expected to close in the third quarter, will also involve adjustments for liabilities and a short-term restricted cash loan to support the transition, the company announced Monday. It also acknowledged that it will reclassify the loyalty segment as a discontinued operation, once the transaction is complete.
“It sharpens our focus and allows us to dedicate all resources to core crypto offerings and the stablecoin payments ecosystem,” president and co-CEO Andy Main said in a statement.
Co-CEO Akshay Naheta added that the firm is now “singularly focused on accelerating innovation, enhancing operational efficiency, and building for scale,” with plans to upgrade its trading tech stack and advance the crypto treasury strategy it outlined in June.
The loyalty sale is part of a broader repositioning as Bakkt aims to streamline operations and focus on core crypto services, including custody, stablecoin payments, and tokenized assets. In the second quarter, its crypto business generated $568 million to $569 million in revenue, while the loyalty unit brought in some $10 million.
The move “signals a clear shift away from retail-facing experiments and a doubling down on institutional-grade crypto infrastructure — a space where trust, security, compliance, and scalability matter most,” Max Shannon, senior associate for research at Bitwise Asset Management, told Decrypt.
But Bakkt would “struggle to compete with Coinbase,” which Shannon noted has “a strong hold on institutional partnerships, custodying 8 of the 11 Bitcoin ETFs.”
Shannon added that the capital raise likely reflects financial pressure stemming from “a massive drag on cash from a large outflow tied to customer funds being withdrawn,” which contributed to operating losses and balance sheet strain tied to the loyalty division.
Calling the move “unusual,” Tomas Fanta, principal at crypto-native venture firm Heartcore, told Decrypt that Bakkt’s decision to add Bitcoin to its treasury “doesn’t add much value to its core business.”
Still, the loyalty sale was “a strategic decision to cut a low profit business line,” Fanta said. He called the Bitcoin treasury move “a mixture of trend following and some strategic planning,” but noted it “will not significantly add to restructuring efforts in the short-term.”
Despite this, some in the industry see that move as a broader push for crypto infrastructure.
“Doubling down on custody, stablecoin rails, and tokenized assets is a clear signal that infrastructure is the only game worth playing in this market,” Kony Kwong, CEO and co-founder at GAIB, a platform bridging compute power and on-chain finance, told Decrypt.
Bakkt will need to “carve out a distinct edge,” whether through tech, niche markets, or deeper institutional ties, Kwong said.
