Bakkt's share price fell nearly 30% on Tuesday after the news was made public that Bank of America and Webull Pay LLC opted not to renew their commercial agreements with the digital asset and payment fintech, the company revealed in an SEC filing Monday.
The development was a big blow. BKKT stock shares ended the day down 27.28% to $9.33, according to data from Yahoo Finance. The stock further slipped after closing and opened Wednesday morning at just over $9.
Bank of America's commercial agreement accounted for nearly 17% of Bakkt's loyalty services revenue through September of last year, according to the filing. Webull was Bakkt's largest crypto partner. The Form 8-K reported Webull made up nearly three-quarters, or 74%, of Bakkt's crypto services revenue in 2023 and 2024.
Bank of America's commercial agreement is set to end on April 22 and crypto brokerage Webull's is slated to end on June 14. None of the parties involved responded to requests for comment from American Banker.
The decision by Bank of America to pull out in particular is illustrative of the uncertainty traditional financial institutions continue to feel toward crypto markets. Despite renewed interest by the Trump administration to construct clearer regulations around cryptocurrencies and stablecoins in particular, the debate is ongoing.
Further economic uncertainty driven by political decisions amid the White House's trade war, mass firings of federal workers by the Department of Government Efficiency and continued consumer concerns over high prices on essentials, has caused many large banks to shift their focus back to core banking products.
Banks are stepping back, but not fully ruling digital assets out. Speaking at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., last month, Bank of America Chairman and CEO Brian Moynihan said a Bank of America stablecoin could be in the bank's future if the current regulatory talks continue. "It's pretty clear there's going to be a stablecoin, which is going to be a fully dollar-backed type of thing, which is no different than a money market fund or check access through a bank account, really," Moynihan said. "If they make that legal, we will go into that business. We will have a BAC — a Bank of America coin U.S. dollar deposit — and it'll be able to move back and forth because now it's legal for us to do it. The question of what it's going to be useful for is going to be interesting."
The news is only the latest hit to Bakkt, which has had a tumultuous 2025 so far. There had been reports in November of last year that then-President-elect Donald Trump's social media company Truth Social was in talks to acquire Bakkt. The deal was never finalized. Bakkt pushed its 2024 earnings call back twice amid the setbacks.
Bakkt was founded by former Republican U.S. Senator from Georgia and Trump ally Kelly Loeffler. Upon taking office, Trump appointed Loeffler to serve as administrator of the Small Business Administration.
Bakkt went public in 2021 through a SPAC merger but since then has continually faced headwinds. It went through a restructuring last year and in February of 2024, the fintech reported in a SEC filing among its "risk factors" was its "ability to continue as a going concern."
