The Company 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 years ended December 31, 2025, December 31, 2024, and December 31, 2023, Bakkt recorded $1.4 million and $0.8 million, and $1.0 million respectively, of expenses related to the 401(k) plan, which is included in Compensation and benefits in the consolidated statements of operations.

On December 15, 2025, the Company filed a complaint in Delaware state court against Project Labrador Holdco, LLC (“Roman”) in connection with the closing of Roman’s acquisition of the Company’s Loyalty business. On February 6, 2026, the Company amended its complaint following additional amounts becoming due. The Company is seeking approximately $10.0 million and attorneys’ fees in connection with breaches of the Loyalty business purchase agreement.

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 September 15, 2025, plaintiff filed an amended complaint. On November 14, 2025, the Company filed a motion seeking dismissal of all claims.

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.

Other legal and regulatory proceedings have arisen and may arise in the ordinary course of business. However, management does not believe that the resolution of these matters will have a material adverse effect on the Company’s 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.

The Company is obligated to securely store digital 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 digital 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 December 31, 2025 and 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 digital assets within its control, and (iii) it has established security around custodial product private keys to minimize the risk of theft or loss.

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. As of December 31, 2025, the Company’s outstanding purchase obligations consist of the following future minimum commitments (in thousands):

On March 19, 2025, the Company entered into a Cooperation Agreement with Distributed Technologies Research Global Ltd. (“DTR”) and Mr. 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 21, Subsequent Events, for details related to transactions with DTR impacting the Cooperation Agreement.