FREE

New CEO & CFO Highlight Significant Uptick in 2024 Activity and Plans for 2024

On March 28, 2024, WTR held a fireside chat with new CEO Andy Main and CFO Karen Alexander. This report contains a transcript of the conversation, which can be accessed on demand. The link is accessible in our full report. CEO Main began the call by discussing his overall experience leading and growing companies like Ogilvy and Deloitte Digital. He then highlighted that during the years on the Bakkt board (which continues), he has been actively engaged in the company’s strategy and operations. CFO Alexander said that since the beginning of the year, Bakkt has seen crypto grow significantly. After reviewing 4Q23, which saw crypto fairly consistent with the 3Q23, she highlighted that YTD the crypto market is up 65% Q/Q on a volume basis, while the company was up 260%. Alexander said, “We’re seeing improved engagement in the performance of the Webull Pay platform. We’re also seeing growth and demand, not only for some of the more anchor crypto coins like Bitcoin and ETH. We’re also seeing demand for other coins. Shiba Inu was probably the most in-demand coin that we saw in March.” Bakkt has taken significant steps to controlling costs and Alexander said it expects operating expenses in 2024, excluding crypto costs and ECB and impairments, to be anywhere from 13% to 18% lower than 2023. After its recent raise of $50 million and the new expense controls, the company expects that its cash balance will be between $35 million and $50 million at the end of 2024. Main also discussed Bakkt’s new electronic communication network (ECN). He said the company’s ECN, “brings all the parties together who are involved in a trade, essentially in a virtual room where they can all collaborate together in a very trustworthy way with Bakkt as the convener of that group of people in that ecosystem.” He expects that the ECN will enable spot Bitcoin transactions for its institutional clients and that the company is seeing significant tailwinds for this. Founded in 2018, Bakkt builds solutions that enable its clients to grow with the crypto economy through a regulated approach in the US and internationally. Through institutional-grade custody, trading, and onramp capabilities, its clients leverage products and solutions built for sustainable, long-term involvement in crypto. Regulatory compliance-first infrastructure is a differentiated strength of Bakkt. Borne out of NYSE-owner Intercontinental Exchange, Bakkt is secure and fully regulated, creating a significant moat that comes to the forefront when markets are in turmoil. Bakkt is one of less than 20 firms that have a New York Bitcoin license. View all our fireside chats and reports on Bakkt on our website, including a summary of 4Q23 earnings and an updated model. Bakkt will also be presenting at WTR’s AI & Technology Conference on April 10 and 11. The registration link is accessible in our full report.