Bakkt Increases Footprint with Apex Crypto Purchase
Bakkt has agreed to buy Apex Crypto, a deal worth up to $200 million that the digital asset platform says will expand its footprint into new areas.
“We found a unique asset in Apex Crypto, which will expand our crypto client base, give us faster speed to market for new crypto features and serve as an additional avenue for continued sales to a crypto-savvy audience through Apex Fintech Solutions,” said Bakkt- chief Gavin Michael in a press release Thursday (Nov. 3).
Bakkt says the deal will allow it to offer its services as a crypto provider for FinTechs, trading app platforms and neobanks.
“It is also expected to enable us to unlock more innovative opportunities that appeal to the next generation of consumers, such as crypto rewards and NFTs,” Michael said.
According to the release, Bakkt will initially pay $55 million in cash upon completion of the agreement, and up to $45 million in Bakkt shares depending on how Apex performs in the fourth quarter of the year. Bakkt will also pay an additional $100 million in stock and merchant notes, contingent on Apex meeting financial goals through the end of 2025.
The agreement also gives Apex Fintech Solutions the opportunity to bring Bakkt’s platform solutions to its customers.
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PYMNTS spoke to Michael in May, when he said he wasn’t worried about the downturn in the cryptocurrency market.
“I think we’re past the tipping point of whether a company should have a crypto strategy,” Michael said “We think crypto has proven it’s here to stay. Consumers are still very interested in cryptocurrency and other digital assets. And that interest is waning really not.”
He argued that companies of all sizes should start “evaluating what their crypto strategy should be, based on their unique customer mix and pain points.”
The consumer-facing “super app” wallet is just one part of Bakkt’s offering, he added. The company, which was spun off from New York Stock Exchange owner Intercontinental Exchange, is primarily a B2B2C platform, he said.
It’s focused, Michael told PYMNTS, on the “next hundred million” consumers at the “intersection of crypto, payments and loyalty.” Consumers using, argued Michael, the digital assets that are the “connective tissue of the new economy” that they operate every day.
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