Bakkt Sells Loyalty Unit to Focus on Core Crypto Strategy
Key Takeaways
Loyalty Business Sold for $11 Million
Bakkt has agreed to sell its loyalty division, which offers travel and merchandise rewards, to Project Labrador Holdco, LLC for $11 million.
Refocusing on Crypto Infrastructure
The divestiture aligns with Bakkt’s goal of becoming a pure-play crypto firm, streamlining its operations to concentrate solely on digital asset custody, trading, and onramp services.
Strategic Shift Amid Industry Competition
Bakkt aims to strengthen its position in the competitive institutional crypto market and accelerate growth in regulated crypto infrastructure by shedding its consumer-facing loyalty business.
Digital asset platform Bakkt has announced the sale of its loyalty business, marking a significant step in its ongoing transformation into a “pure-play” crypto company.
Overview
On July 28 2025, Bakkt revealed it had agreed to sell its loyalty division— which enables clients to provide travel and merchandise rewards—for $11 million to Project Labrador Holdco, LLC, a subsidiary of the SPACRoman DBDR Technology Advisors, Inc.
The move comes as the firm intensifies its efforts to streamline operations and concentrate fully on providing crypto infrastructure and trading solutions to institutional clients. The divestiture aligns with Bakkt’s broader strategy to hone its focus on regulated digital asset custody, trading, and onramp services amid evolving industry dynamics.
The loyalty business—originally acquired through Bakkt’s 2021 merger with Bridge2 Solutions—enabled consumers to redeem loyalty points for crypto and other assets. However, it has now been sold to Points.com, a subsidiary of Plusgrade, a global leader in travel-based ancillary revenue solutions. While financial terms were not disclosed, the deal is expected to reduce operational complexity and free up capital for Bakkt’s core crypto initiatives.
Bakkt CEO Andy Main emphasised that the sale will enable the company to sharpen its strategic priorities.
“This transaction allows us to focus entirely on crypto and drive forward our goal of becoming the backbone of the digital asset economy,”
Main said.
“We are doubling down on what we do best—delivering secure, scalable, and regulated crypto solutions for businesses and institutions.”
A Strategic Reset for Long-Term Growth
The loyalty business had previously served as a differentiator for Bakkt in the digital asset space, offering unique utility by allowing consumers to convert points, rewards, and even gift cards into cryptocurrencies. Yet, market conditions and customer demands shifted over time, prompting Bakkt to reevaluate its approach. The divestiture signals a decisive move from consumer-facing operations to building enterprise-level digital asset services.
This strategic reset follows several other cost-cutting and restructuring efforts by Bakkt. In early 2024, the company announced layoffs and trimmed its product lineup to preserve cash and focus resources on core competencies. The sale of the loyalty division is expected to simplify the company’s business model, reduce overhead, and position it better for future partnerships and platform expansion.
Bakkt’s renewed focus includes strengthening its regulated custody solutions, expanding access to crypto liquidity, and enhancing onramp and off-ramp capabilities for businesses. The company, which is publicly traded on the NYSE, has also expressed interest in supporting tokenisation and blockchain infrastructure projects that align with institutional use cases.
Crypto-Only Focus Amid Shifting Market Landscape
Bakkt’s transition to a pure-play crypto firm comes as competition in the digital asset infrastructure space intensifies. Companies like Coinbase, Anchorage Digital, and Fireblocks continue to vie for institutional market share, each emphasising security, compliance, and scalability.
Bakkt aims to differentiate itself through its regulatory pedigree and established financial partnerships, including its roots with Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the New York Stock Exchange parent company. Despite a turbulent crypto market in recent years, interest from banks, fintechs, and payment processors in digital asset services remains high. Bakkt believes that focusing squarely on this segment will allow it to capitalise on the growing demand for enterprise-grade crypto infrastructure.
In recent quarters, Bakkt expanded its product suite to include crypto trading, custody, and payment processing APIs designed to integrate into banking and fintech apps. With the loyalty business now off the books, the firm is expected to accelerate these efforts and pursue new revenue opportunities across institutional and enterprise clients.
Bakkt’s strategic realignment reflects a broader trend as the crypto industry matures: digital asset firms are narrowing their focus and shedding non-core businesses to survive and thrive in a rapidly evolving regulatory and competitive environment. For Bakkt, the path forward is clear—becoming a focused, regulation-first crypto infrastructure provider that can support the next wave of digital financial innovation.