What Bakkt (BKKT) Said on Its Q3 Earnings Call

Key Points

• Bakkt kept its volume targets of approximately $3 billion for 2026 and set a goal of about $6 billion in the first half of 2027, despite third-quarter volume falling to $147.9 million from $168.8 million in Q2. The targets depend on new institutional and cross-border clients completing integrations and ramping up activity.
• Q3 revenue fell to $149.2 million from $402.2 million a year earlier. Bakkt reported $14.3 million in net income, including a $26.8 million non-cash gain on Transchem warrants, while its operating loss narrowed and adjusted EBITDA remained negative at $11.8 million.
• Bakkt plans to start publishing monthly transaction-volume reports in December and is targeting approximately 25,000 monthly active payment users by year-end, compared with roughly 9,700 in September. It also said an institutional cross-border trading desk outside the U.S. could launch as early as Q4, subject to readiness and approvals.

Bakkt NYSE: BKKT reiterated its full-year transaction volume target and set a goal for the first half of 2027, as executives said the company’s growth plans depend on institutional and cross-border clients completing integrations and increasing their use of its platform.

On its third-quarter 2026 earnings call, Bakkt reported total transacting volume of $147.9 million, down from $168.8 million in the second quarter. Year-to-date volume reached $557.9 million. The company maintained its target of approximately $3 billion for the full year and set a target of approximately $6 billion for the first six months of 2027.

Chief Commercial Officer Daniel Ishag said the full-year goal implies approximately $2.44 billion of volume in the fourth quarter. He said trading activity declined in the third quarter, while new institutional and cross-border client flows expected to drive the ramp were still in integration.

Client activations began in October, Ishag said, and the company expects the pace to increase as integrations and launch requirements are completed. The first-half target assumes a fuller contribution from fourth-quarter activations, additional launches and increased usage, he added.

Revenue Falls as Bakkt Reports Net Income

Third-quarter revenue declined to $149.2 million from $402.2 million a year earlier. Chief Financial Officer Matt White said crypto services revenue is presented gross and moves with trading volume, with crypto costs and execution fees substantially offsetting it.

Bakkt reported net income of $14.3 million, or $0.31 per diluted share, including a $26.8 million non-cash gain on Transchem warrants. Its operating loss narrowed 43% from a year earlier to $14.4 million. Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $11.8 million, compared with a $14.8 million loss a year ago.

Operating expenses excluding crypto costs and execution fees fell 40% to $16.1 million from $26.7 million a year earlier, White said. The company ended the quarter with $37.3 million in cash and restricted cash, no long-term debt and no shares sold under its at-the-market program.

White said Bakkt was not providing a stabilized gross margin assumption because transaction economics depend on product mix, payment corridors and the balance of flows. Those factors are still developing and are expected to evolve through much of next year, he said.

Monthly Volume Reports to Begin in December

Bakkt plans to publish a monthly “Bakkt Engine Report” starting in December, with November’s completed transaction volume as its first data point. Ishag said the report will also include annualized run rate volume, calculated by multiplying the month’s actual volume by 12.

That figure measures the annualized pace of volume, not revenue or a forecast for the following 12 months, Ishag said. Each report will explain what drove the month’s activity.

Bakkt earns revenue through transaction and processing fees and foreign exchange conversions, with revenue per dollar of volume depending on the services used and transaction mix. Executives said they expect more balanced two-way flows across the network to support better liquidity utilization, execution efficiency and transaction margins as activity grows.

Payment Users and Product Plans

Executives gave different figures for September monthly active users on Bakkt’s payment rails, the first month for which the company reported the metric. Chief Executive Officer Akshay Naheta cited 9,760 users, while Ishag cited 9,716. Ishag reiterated a target of approximately 25,000 monthly active users for December.

The measure counts end users who completed at least one qualifying fiat transaction on a Bakkt-operated payment rail during the month. Users are counted once per client application, without deduplication across applications. Bakkt plans to continue reporting the metric quarterly.

Ishag said the Bakkt Payments Portal is live for business clients, while a planned institutional cross-border trading desk outside the United States could launch initially in the fourth quarter, subject to banking, documentation, technology readiness and applicable approvals.

India and Japan Investments

Bakkt’s strategic asset value rose to approximately $145 million at September 30 from $119 million at June 30. Naheta said the figure comprised the $134.8 million fair value of its Transchem investment and the $10.4 million equity-method carrying value of its Bitcoin Japan Corporation investment. He noted that the metric reflects reported asset values rather than operating revenue or cash generated by the business.

In India, Bakkt expects Transchem’s brokerage platform to serve more than 250,000 customers by the first half of 2027 and its local broker business to earn a return on equity of around 20%, Naheta said. In Japan, Bakkt is exploring opportunities through Bitcoin Japan Corporation to tokenize private-market investments for eligible investors, subject to applicable regulatory requirements.

About Bakkt (NYSE:BKKT)

Bakkt Holdings, Inc is a digital-asset services company that provides cryptocurrency infrastructure for businesses and institutions. Its platform is designed to support crypto custody, trading and onramp services, enabling customers to buy, sell, hold and transfer digital assets through integrated technology.

The company serves financial institutions, fintech companies, brands and other businesses seeking to offer cryptocurrency-related products without building the underlying infrastructure themselves.

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