v3.25.2
Commitment and Contingencies
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2025
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies Commitments and Contingencies
401(k) Plan
Bakkt sponsors a 401(k) defined contribution plan covering all eligible U.S. employees. Both Company and employee contributions to the 401(k) plan are discretionary. For the three and six months ended June 30, 2025, the Company recognized approximately $0.4 million and $0.9 million, respectively of matching contributions to the 401(k). For the three and six months ended June 30, 2024, the Company recorded approximately $0.6 million and $1.3 million, respectively of expenses related to the 401(k) plan, which is included in "Compensation and benefits" in the consolidated statements of operations.
Tax Receivable Agreement
The Company is party to a TRA with certain Opco equity holders. As of June 30, 2025, the Company has not recorded a liability under the TRA related to the income tax benefits originating from the exchanges of Opco Common Units as it is not probable that the Company will realize such tax benefits. The amounts payable under the TRA will vary depending upon a number of factors, including the amount, character, and timing of the taxable income of the Company in the future. Should the Company determine that the payment of the TRA liability becomes probable at a future date based on new information, any changes will be recorded in the Company's consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss at that time.
Litigation
On April 2, 2025, a putative class action complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against the Company and certain current and former officers. The complaint alleges that the Company made false or misleading statements and omissions of purportedly material fact, in violation of federal securities laws, in connection with disclosures relating to the non-renewal of the Company’s agreements with Webull and Bank of America N.A. ("Bank of America"). The complaint seeks damages, as well as fees and costs. The Company intends to defend the matter vigorously; however, it is refraining from expressing any judgment upon the likelihood of a favorable or unfavorable outcome in this matter given the early stage of the litigation. On May 6, 2025, the class action complaint was transferred to the Northern District of Georgia.
On June 6, 2025, a verified stockholder derivative complaint captioned Kaivani v. Alexander, et. al., No. 25-cv-03196-MLB was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against the Company and various officers and directors. The complaint asserted various claims for breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, and pursuant to Sections 10(b), 20(a), and 14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 against defendants. The claims were premised on the same allegations as the federal securities litigation described above. On June 27, 2025, plaintiff filed a notice of voluntary dismissal without prejudice in this action.
On July 14, 2025, July 16, 2025, and July 18, 2025, the Company’s Board of Directors received demand letters from three shareholders (including Mr. Kaivani, who filed and withdrew the federal derivative litigation described above) (collectively, the “Demands”). These Demands are premised on the same alleged misconduct as the federal securities litigation described above, and seek (i) an internal investigation, (ii) a civil action, if applicable, and (iii) various Board actions in connection with the alleged misconduct. Defendants have asked these shareholders to pause the Board’s
consideration of these Demands until resolution of Defendants’ anticipated motion to dismiss the federal securities litigation; to date, two of the three shareholders have so agreed.
On January 25, 2024, the Company’s subsidiary, Aspire Loyalty Travel Solutions, LLC (“Aspire”) received a letter from one of its vendors alleging breach of its agreement with that vendor relating to a migration of Aspire’s systems to a different vendor. The alleged breach relates to a contractual provision requiring Aspire to originate at least a given percentage of its redemptions on the vendor’s systems. In May 2024, the Company settled the matter for $1.1 million.
As described above, in October 2021, Bakkt completed the VIH Business Combination with VIH, pursuant to which VIH changed its name to Bakkt Holdings, Inc. and the current directors and officers of the Company replaced the directors and officers in place prior to the VIH Business Combination. On April 21, 2022, a putative class action was filed against Bakkt Holdings, Inc. and certain of its directors and officers prior to the VIH Business Combination in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on behalf of certain purchasers of securities of VIH and/or purchasers of Class A Common Stock issued in connection with the VIH Business Combination. On August 3, 2022, the Court appointed lead plaintiffs and lead counsel and on October 18, 2022, lead plaintiffs filed an amended complaint (the "Amended Complaint"). The Amended Complaint alleged that VIH made false or misleading statements and omissions of material fact in the registration statement and prospectus/proxy statement filing in connection with the VIH Business Combination and in other SEC filings made by VIH, in violation of federal securities laws in connection with disclosures relating to certain of VIH’s financial statements, accounting, and internal controls and that, as a result, VIH securities traded at artificially inflated prices. Plaintiffs sought certification of a class of purchasers of (1) VIH/Bakkt’s publicly traded securities between March 31, 2021 and November 19, 2021, and/or (2) Bakkt’s publicly traded securities pursuant and/or traceable to the registration statement. The Amended Complaint sought damages, as well as fees and costs. The Amended Complaint named as defendants only one current director, and no current officers, of Bakkt. On March 14, 2023, the parties reached a settlement in principle. On April 12, 2023, the parties completed a stipulation of settlement resolving the litigation for $3.0 million, subject to Court approval. The Court granted a final approval of the settlement on April 16, 2025. The settlement was covered primarily by the Company's insurance less its contractual retention.
On June 23, 2023, an “opt-out” action related to the foregoing class action was filed against Bakkt Holdings, Inc. and the individuals named in the class action. In late February 2024, plaintiff provided notice that he intended to pursue his remedies as a class member, and therefore did not expect further to pursue this action. On March 1, 2024, the parties filed a joint stipulation of dismissal without a settlement or compromise between the parties, and on March 5, 2024 the Court issued an order dismissing the action.
Prior to its acquisition by the Company, Bakkt Crypto received requests from the SEC for documents and information about certain aspects of its business, including the operation of its trading platform, processes for listing assets, the classification of certain listed assets, and relationships with customers and service providers, among other topics. The SEC made a number of follow up requests for additional documents and information, and the Company responded to those requests on a timely basis. On March 3, 2025, the SEC concluded its inquiry of Bakkt Crypto and, based on the information it had at such time, the SEC advised the Company that it did not intend to recommend an enforcement action against Bakkt Crypto.
Other legal and regulatory proceedings have arisen and may arise in the ordinary course of business. However, we do not believe that the resolution of these matters will have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows. However, future results could be materially and adversely affected by new developments relating to the legal proceedings and claims.
Cryptocurrency Held on Platform

The Company is obligated to securely store crypto assets that it holds for customers, a substantial portion of which are held in cold storage. As such, the Company may be liable to users of its platform for losses arising from the Company’s failure to secure crypto assets from theft or loss. The Company has not incurred any losses related to such an obligation and
therefore has not accrued a liability for losses as of June 30, 2025 or December 31, 2024. The Company has no reason to believe it will incur any expense associated with such potential liability because (i) it has no known or historical experience of claims to use as a basis of measurement, (ii) it accounts for and continually verifies the amount of crypto assets within its control, and (iii) it has established security around custodial product private keys to minimize the risk of theft or loss.
Commercial Purchasing Card Facility
On April 7, 2022, Bakkt entered into a corporate card services agreement with Bank of America to provide a purchasing card facility that it utilizes for redemption purchases made from vendors as part of its loyalty redemption platform. Total borrowing capacity under the facility was $35 million and there is no defined maturity date. Expenditures made using the purchasing card facility are payable at least bi-monthly, are not subject to formula-based restrictions and do not bear interest if amounts outstanding are paid when due and in full. The purchasing card facility requires the Company to maintain a concentration account with the lender subject to a minimum liquidity maintenance requirement of $7.0 million along with the accounts receivable of the Company's subsidiary, within the loyalty business. Bakkt Holdings, Inc. serves as the guarantor on behalf of the subsidiary under the commercial purchasing card facility. Bakkt began using the purchasing card facility in August 2022.
In March 2024, Bank of America required Bakkt to pledge as collateral the amounts which were previously required to be maintained in the concentration account. In April 2024, Bank of America reduced the credit line associated with the purchasing card facility from $35.0 million to $20.0 million. In January 2025, Bank of America further reduced the credit line associated with the purchasing card facility from $20.0 million to $18.0 million and changed payment frequency to weekly. In March 2025, Bank of America further reduced the credit line associated with the purchasing card facility from $18.0 million to $15.0 million.
Purchase Obligations
In December 2021, the Company entered into a four-year cloud computing arrangement which includes minimum contractual payments due to the third-party provider. In December 2023, the Company agreed to amend the contract and extend the payment period for an additional year. During the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company entered into a five-year strategic marketing agreement which required a committed spend. In July 2024, the Company terminated the strategic marketing agreement, which required a settlement payment of $1.1 million and resulted in the release from future obligations. As of June 30, 2025, the Company's outstanding purchase obligations, net of the settlement described above, consisted of the following future minimum commitments (in thousands):
Payments Due by Period
Less than 1 year1-3 years3-5 yearsMore than 5 yearsTotal
Purchase obligations$5,000 $6,000 $— $— $11,000 
Cooperation Agreement
On March 19, 2025, the Company entered into a Cooperation Agreement with Distributed Technologies Research Global Ltd. (“DTR”) and Akshay Naheta, the sole stockholder of DTR (the “Cooperation Agreement”). Pursuant to the Cooperation Agreement, DTR will provide the Company with certain exclusive payment processing technology, application programming interfaces, and infrastructure to be integrated into the Company’s platform for the enablement of global payments processing services in the jurisdictions where the Company or its affiliates operate. Refer to Note 18 to our consolidated financial statements included in the Form 10-K where the Cooperation Agreement is described in detail. Refer to Note 19 for additional details of the Commercial Agreement with DTR.