Mike

Cryptocurrency

2026

would

Cryptocurrency infrastructure platform Bakkt Holdings announced an agreement to purchase Distributed Technologies Research, a stablecoin and fiat payments infrastructure provider.
In a Monday notice, Bakkt <a href="https://investors.bakkt.com/news-releases/news-release-details/bakkt-agrees-acquire-distributed-technologies-research-ltd" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">said</a> the agreement will have the company issue more than nine million shares of its Class A common stock to Distributed Technologies Research shareholders. At the time of publication, the price of shares of Bakkt Holdings (BKKT) on the New York Stock Exchange was $19.54, having surged more than 20% in the previous 24 hours, which would make the deal worth more than $178 million.&nbsp;
“The acquisition will allow Bakkt to consolidate a critical piece of its stablecoin settlement infrastructure and prepares the company to launch its neobanking strategy with multiple distribution partners in the coming months,” said Mike Alfred, the director and member of the special committee of Bakkt’s board.
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 Source: <a href="https://x.com/Bakkt/status/2010715634615681456" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Bakkt</a>
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Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange and a 31% shareholder of Bakkt’s Class A common stock, will vote in favor of the deal. Akshay Naheta, who founded Distributed Technologies Research in 2022, will remain CEO of Bakkt following the merger.
Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-stocks-soar-double-digits-major-tokens-rally" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">US crypto stocks soar double-digits as major tokens rally</a>
According to Bakkt, the merger was part of a strategy to form a “unified financial infrastructure platform” and expand its payment and banking use cases in 2026. The company said the deal was subject to regulatory and shareholder approval.
<h2 id="crypto-deals-acquisitions-hit-record-high-in-2025">Crypto deals, acquisitions hit record high in 2025</h2>
According to a December Financial Times report, the crypto and blockchain industry saw $8.6 billion worth of deals in 2025. Among the most significant of the acquisitions included crypto exchange Coinbase <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/coinbase-seals-deribit-acquisition-deal-2025" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">buying options trading platform Deribit</a> for $2.9 billion, Kraken <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/kraken-us-crypto-derivatives-launch-ninjatrader" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">buying Ninjatrader for $1.5 billion</a>, and Ripple Labs <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/ripple-acquires-crypto-friendly-prime-broker-hidden-road-for-1-3-b" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acquiring Hidden Road</a> for $1.2 billion.
Two weeks into 2026, other crypto companies have made similar moves. Fireblocks acquired crypto accounting platform TRES for $130 million and Coincheck purchased digital asset manager 3iQ for $112 million. The latter deal is expected to close in the second quarter.
Magazine: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/how-crypto-laws-changed-2025-further-2026/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026</a>

Bakkt stock surges 20% after move on stablecoin payments strategy

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