Bakkt acquires DTR to build 24/7 digital settlement

Bakkt completed its acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure firm Distributed Technologies Research (DTR) on Thursday, issuing more than 11.3 million shares to DTR’s beneficial holders. The company said up to an additional 725,592 shares may be payable; the transaction was first disclosed in January and originally involved 9.3 million shares. Bakkt also confirmed a corporate name change to Bakkt Inc.

Bakkt CEO Akshay Naheta described the integration as “The architecture of money movement rarely evolves at this level.” He added the companies will combine Bakkt’s institutional infrastructure with DTR’s stablecoin technology and native AI payments engine to support continuous settlement.

DTR’s platform centers on a stablecoin and an AI-driven payments engine designed to automate and optimize value transfers. Bakkt plans to integrate those capabilities with its custody, trading and institutional workflows to enable settlement that operates outside traditional banking hours.

Market reaction was mixed. Bakkt’s stock (BKKT) fell about 8% to $7.86 at Wednesday’s close ahead of the deal’s completion and rose to $8.62 by Thursday’s close. Intercontinental Exchange controls roughly 55% of Bakkt. The company identifies Starbucks and Mastercard as strategic partners.

The acquisition follows financial and operational challenges at Bakkt. In March 2024 the New York Stock Exchange warned it might delist Bakkt after the share price traded below $1 for 30 consecutive days. In May 2024 the company informed regulators there was substantial uncertainty around its expansion and revenue growth. Later reports said another firm entered talks to acquire Bakkt but no transaction occurred. Bakkt has conducted several equity raises since, including a February share sale aimed at roughly $48 million.

The companies did not disclose detailed commercial terms beyond the share issuance and did not provide a timeline for full integration of DTR’s systems. Regulators have increased scrutiny of stablecoin arrangements; market participants say operational integration, compliance frameworks and liquidity arrangements will be central to any settlement-layer offering that seeks to interact with legacy financial systems.