Bakkt Q1 loss as crypto revenue falls 77%, shifts to stablecoins

Bakkt reported a net loss attributable to the company of $11.7 million, or $0.41 per basic and diluted share, for the quarter ended March 31. In the year-ago quarter Bakkt posted net income attributable to the company of $7.7 million, or $1.13 per diluted share.

Crypto services revenue fell 77% to $243.6 million from $1.07 billion in the prior-year quarter. Bakkt attributed the decline primarily to lower crypto trading volumes. Crypto costs and brokerage fees totaled $242 million in the quarter, nearly matching the revenue figure.

Excluding crypto costs, operating expenses were $18.5 million, down slightly from $18.9 million a year earlier. The company ended the quarter with $82.6 million in cash, including $69.6 million raised in equity offerings during the period, and reported no long-term debt.

Shares closed at $9.92 on Monday, up 0.71%, and traded around $9.00 in pre-market trading after the earnings release, a drop of about 9.1%.

Bakkt closed its acquisition of Distributed Technologies Research on April 30, adding an AI-native payments engine and a stablecoin compliance stack. The company also signed a memorandum of understanding with stablecoin provider Zoth targeting $1 billion in annualized payment volumes across South Asia, the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa.

CEO Akshay Naheta wrote in the earnings release, “We believe stablecoin infrastructure represents one of the most significant structural transformations in global finance in decades,” and pointed to proposed legislation such as the GENIUS Act and CLARITY Act as potential regulatory support for licensed infrastructure.

For industry context, Circle reported first-quarter total revenue and reserve income of $694 million and disclosed a $222 million presale of its ARC token at a $3 billion fully diluted valuation. Circle reported USDC in circulation of $77 billion at quarter-end, a 28% increase year over year, and on-chain transaction volume of $21.5 trillion, up 263%.

The company reported it is shifting its business model away from trading and brokerage revenue toward stablecoin payments and AI-enabled financial infrastructure. Bakkt reported that trading revenue in the quarter produced thin operating margins because crypto revenue was nearly offset by associated costs.