Bakkt pivots into stablecoin infrastructure as revenue tumbles 77% in Q1
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- Bakkt reported a 77% revenue decline in Q1 and its shares fell 9.14% in pre‑market trading to $9.00.
- Bakkt completed its acquisition of Distributed Technologies Research on April 30, gaining an AI‑native payments engine and stablecoin compliance stack.
- Bakkt signed a memorandum of understanding with Zoth, a stablecoin provider targeting $1 billion in annualized payment volumes across South Asia, the Middle East, and Sub‑Saharan Africa.
- Bakkt CEO Akshay Naheta said stablecoin infrastructure is a major structural transformation, citing the GENIUS Act and CLARITY Act as regulatory tailwinds that could boost the value of its licensed infrastructure.
- Circle reported a 20% rise in Q1 total revenue and reserve income to $694 million, with USDC circulation up 28% YoY to $77 billion and on‑chain transaction volume up 263% to $21.5 trillion.
Why it matters: Bakkt’s revenue collapse hurts shareholders, but its AI‑powered stablecoin platform and Zoth partnership aim to capture part of the $1 billion annual payment flow in Africa and Asia, while Circle’s growth signals expanding demand for regulated stablecoins.
