There was no warm-up, no major positive, yet crypto concept stock Bakkt surged more than 50% overnight.
Not long ago Bakkt was marginalized by the market due to customer losses and declining revenues, but now it has suddenly rushed to the hot seat and become the brightest presence among crypto stocks. Behind the seemingly coincidental surge, what rhythm has been stepped on? Is it a short-term speculative game, or is it a signal that the industry trend is quietly turning?
Bakkt Surge, Opportunity or Sentiment?
On May 13th, Bakkt’s stock price surged over 50% in a short period of time. The company, once seen as a “bridge between traditional finance and the crypto world,” has been mired in customer losses and shrinking revenues over the past few years, and this sudden turnaround has sparked concern in the market. The ostensible reason is that it realized a net profit of $7.7 million in the first quarter, the first profit in recent years. But a closer look at the earnings report shows that this was largely due to cost-cutting and one-time adjustments, with no significant improvement in its core business.
What really ignited the mood was the company’s new strategy, which saw Bakkt announce a partnership with DTR, a company founded by a former SoftBank executive, to launch an AI plug-in and stablecoin payment service to enter the popular “PayFi” track – a global payments infrastructure that combines AI proxies with on-chain settlement. This is a global payment infrastructure that combines AI agents and on-chain settlement. This “new narrative” that overlays AI and crypto is quickly generating market hype.
In addition, Bakkt’s “M&A concept” has been revitalized. Although the acquisition talks with Trump’s TMTG failed, ICE still owns more than half of its shares, and there are rumors that Apex Fintech may take over. Driven by a very small liquidity and a whopping 23% short share, the short squeeze was quickly staged and the stock was pulled up quickly.
Fundamentally, the platform is still under tremendous pressure. On the one hand, Bakkt’s major client, Nasdaq-listed brokerage Webull, with which it provided cryptocurrency trading and custodian services and which accounted for more than 70% of Bakkt’s total revenue, will end its relationship in June. On the other hand, Bank of America is also ending its partnership with Bakkt, which affects Bakkt’s loyalty services segment, which provides point redemption, digital rewards and other solutions for corporate customers.
With the loss of two major customers, Bakkt’s revenue structure has become more fragile. The surge is more of a concentrated release of short-term market sentiment than a material turnaround in fundamentals.
What is the market betting on as crypto stocks move collectively?
Bakkt’s move is not an isolated phenomenon. Over the same timeframe, the crypto concept stock sector generally strengthened, with several stocks posting significant gains. coinbase rose 23.97%, TeraWulf gained 10.06%, Amber Group and DMG Blockchain gained close to 10%, and MicroStrategy rallied more than 4%. Overall, the crypto stock sector is up nearly 10% on a weekly basis, demonstrating the intense capitalization within the track.
More importantly, however, the market has begun to re-examine the value of crypto “infrastructure”. While most of the money in the past crypto market cycles has gone to exchanges, platform coins or mining companies, investors are now turning their attention to the “plumbing” companies – those that provide custodianship, settlement, clearing, compliance, risk control and other services. They are more like the utilities of the ecosystem, with stable revenue models, and are more easily adapted to the valuation system of traditional finance. bakkt’s surge is precisely in line with this structural preference, and it is not the only one.
Traditional finance is making a full entry
The real turning point in the crypto industry is not in the short-term rally of one platform’s stock price, but in the fact that more and more traditional financial institutions, are choosing to join the game.
Internet brokerages in Hong Kong have already taken the lead. Futura Securities has launched cryptocurrency trading services, allowing users to directly top up and trade mainstream coins such as bitcoin, ethereum, and USDT through their Hong Kong and U.S. stock accounts; Tiger Securities has gone live with crypto-asset deposit, trading, and withdrawal functions, and opened it up to traditional stock trading; and Victory Securities has been licensed to support crypto-asset-related businesses, taking the lead in the market. Standard Chartered Bank’s Hong Kong subsidiary, on the other hand, announced its participation in the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Stablecoin Sandbox together with its partners, in an attempt to explore on-chain payment solutions under the compliance framework.
Meanwhile, global payment giants are making even more aggressive moves: Stripe has launched stablecoin accounts with programmable stablecoin USDB, which is available in 101 countries; Visa and Mastercard are expanding their integration with partners such as Circle to include stablecoins such as USDC in their payment networks, allowing users to spend on-chain assets via traditional cards; and PayPal is offering a 3.7% return on its investment in stablecoins, with a 3.7% return on its investment. PayPal, on the other hand, is using a 3.7% yield to attract users to hold PYUSD in an attempt to build a closed loop of settlement based on stable coins. Even established cross-border remittance companies like MoneyGram are connecting traditional cash and on-chain assets via the stablecoin “Ramps,” covering more than 170 countries.
The common point of all these movements is that traditional finance no longer sees crypto as a scourge, but has started to take the initiative to “on-chain” itself. This is not only a response to the changing needs of users, but also the pursuit of cost efficiency. Stablecoin and blockchain technology provide a faster, cheaper and more transparent infrastructure than traditional networks with high fees and slow settlements. And whoever is able to take their place first in this new system is more likely to retain a voice on the financial map of the future.
Bakkt’s new strategy is the result of following this trend. Although it is not as big as Stripe, Visa and other giants in terms of volume and technology, as a fully licensed institution with custodian and clearing capabilities, it still has the potential to become an M&A target or a cooperative entrance. This is exactly why the market is revaluing it – not to see how much money it makes today, but to see if it has the potential to be the next entry ticket.
Conclusion
Bakkt’s surge epitomizes, but is not the whole story in this wave. As the capital markets begin to re-examine the value of crypto infrastructure, more and more traditional financial institutions stop avoiding crypto, and “on-chain finance” becomes an executable strategy rather than a distant fantasy, we are witnessing the beginning of a shift in the times.
In this round, we are not relying on those who shout slogans to make money, but on those who really build bridges, pave roads, and connect to mainstream systems to leave value behind.
