Bakkt Posts $14.3 Million Profit Despite 62.9% Revenue Drop in Third Quarter
Key Facts
Bakkt reported net income attributable to the company of $14.3 million, or $0.31 per diluted share, in the third quarter ended September 30, 2026, after a net loss of $14.9 million, or $1.15 per share, in the same period of 2025. The company said in its earnings release that quarterly revenue was $149.2 million, down 62.9% from $402.2 million a year earlier. It attributed the decline mainly to lower cryptocurrency trading volume. The quarter's results included a non-cash gain of $26.8 million on Transchem warrants. The gain is a significant factor in explaining the shift to positive net income, while the company's adjusted profitability measure remained in loss territory.
Operating expenses, excluding cryptocurrency costs and execution, clearing and brokerage fees, fell to $16.1 million from $26.7 million in the third quarter of 2025, a decline of 39.7%. Bakkt said the drop reflected lower compensation, professional services and administrative expenses. The comparison also benefited from the absence of $5.6 million in restructuring and impairment charges recorded in the year-earlier period. Partly offsetting those decreases was a $1.7 million increase in amortization of acquired intangible assets. These items reflect a lower cost base, but do not eliminate the effect of falling revenue or the non-cash gain included in the quarter's net result.
Adjusted EBITDA loss was $11.8 million, compared with a loss of $14.8 million in the third quarter of 2025 on a consistent basis, an improvement of $3 million. The company linked the improvement to a lower operating cost base. The divergence between positive net income and an adjusted loss highlights the continued gap between the accounting result and the adjusted operating performance measure. Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash fell to $37.3 million on September 30 from $50.7 million on June 30. The company said the decline included $17.9 million of cash used in operating activities during the quarter, and reported that it had no long-term debt.
The total value of transactions processed by Bakkt, or gross transaction value, was $147.9 million in the third quarter and $557.9 million in the nine months ended September 30, 2026. The company reaffirmed a target of about $3 billion for the metric in 2026 and set a target of about $6 billion for the first half of 2027. It said the annual target requires about $2.4 billion in transaction volume in the fourth quarter. Institutional and cross-border payments clients were in integration during the third quarter and began activation in October, with more activations expected starting in November, the company said. Bakkt stressed that transaction volume is an operating metric and does not represent revenue, profitability, assets held by the company or cash flows, and that payments revenue is also recorded differently from the nominal value of transactions.
On payments, the company reported 9,760 monthly active users on payment rails in September 2026, the first month it disclosed the metric, and said it is targeting about 25,000 users in December. It has previously said its live commercial offerings span six rails, from trading and digital asset infrastructure to cross-border transfers and payment tools. It also targets launching a cross-border trading desk for institutional clients outside the United States in the fourth quarter of 2026. Bakkt linked the launch to the readiness of banking services, documentation and technology, and to obtaining required approvals. In its release, the company said the new monthly report will begin in December, including November activity, and will show transaction volume and the annualized run rate calculated from it.
In the market, BKKT shares closed at $4.3 on November 6, 2026, according to EL7 data. The company's fourth-quarter target puts execution of about $2.4 billion in transaction volume on the path required to achieve its annual target of about $3 billion. Bakkt also plans to publish monthly data to track this activity, starting with the December report covering November. Monthly active users remain one metric for tracking the expansion of payment rails, after being disclosed for the first time in the quarterly release. These operating indicators provide a picture of activity levels and planned activations alongside quarterly revenue and profitability results.