Bakkt Acquires DTR to Build Stablecoin Settlement Layer

Bakkt, a digital asset company, has completed its acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure firm Distributed Technologies Research (DTR) through an equity-based transaction, which is a part of its bid to create a digital settlement layer. The deal aims to combine Bakkt's institutional infrastructure with DTR's native artificial intelligence payments engine and stablecoin technology to create a 24/7 digital settlement layer, said Bakkt CEO Akshay Naheta. The announcement also notes that the deal is subject to an additional 725,592 shares, along with Bakkt issuing more than 11.3 million shares to the beneficial holders of DTR.

Deal Expands Bakkt's Push Towards Stablecoin-Based Settlements

Bakkt had initially announced the deal in January, which involved 9.3 million shares; later on, the firm decided to increase the volume of shares. After the deal was sealed, Bakkt's share price (BKKT) fell by 8 percent to $7.86 (roughly Rs. 745) at the end of Wednesday, but by Thursday's close, the share price recovered to $8.62 (roughly Rs. 818). 

In a press release, Naheta emphasised that the architecture of money movement rarely evolves at such a level. “This transaction accelerates the re-platforming of global financial infrastructure. By fully integrating DTR's technology, we are introducing stablecoin functionality as a critical bridge between legacy financial systems and the next generation of digital assets,” the Bakkt CEO said.

This decision can turn out to be a crucial step for the company's further growth. In March 2024, Bakkt's share value had fallen below $1 (roughly Rs. 94.86) and remained there for 30 days, due to which the firm was on the verge of being delisted by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), as per a release by BusinessWire. 

By May 2025, the company disclosed to regulators that there had been a “significant uncertainty associated with our expansion to new markets and the growth of our revenue base, given the uncertain and rapidly evolving environment associated with crypto assets.” Since then, the company has conducted a series of fundraising rounds through share sales, with the most recent in February when it tried to raise $48 million (roughly Rs. 457 crore).

Along with Bakkt, a decentralised oracle provider called RedStone also announced the launch of a new settlement layer for decentralised finance (DeFi) last week. The core goal of this launch is to make tokenised real-world assets (RWAs) available as collateral in lending protocols. This new system is called RedStone Settle, and it is designed to address the structural issue in DeFi, a problem that the industry has battled for a long time.