Bakkt is sharpening its focus on the future of payments as the ICE-backed crypto infrastructure firm moves to bring stablecoin settlement technology in-house by acquiring Distributed Technologies Research Ltd. (DTR).
Bakkt, a publicly traded fintech and digital asset infrastructure company building regulated platforms and services for the crypto economy, has agreed to acquire Distributed Technologies Research Ltd. (DTR), a company that builds stablecoin payments and settlement infrastructure.
The move will allow the ICE-backed crypto payments and settlement infrastructure provider to speed up product development, bringing stablecoin payment technology in-house instead of relying on third parties. The broader implications of the planned acquisition include potential expansion into programmable payments and eventually even digital-first neobanking services, since the joint infrastructure capabilities are enabling more traditional financial services built on blockchain rails.
Bakkt was formed in 2018 by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) — the company behind the New York Stock Exchange, along with a group of prominent strategic partners and investors, including Boston Consulting Group, Microsoft, and Starbucks. ICE remains a major shareholder in the company that lets businesses and institutions handle Bitcoin, stablecoins, tokenization, and digital payments in a compliant, secure way.
In a few recent years, Bakkt has gradually shifted from consumer digital asset offerings (like loyalty rewards or apps) toward institutional and infrastructure-level products. One of the vivid illustrations of the approach shift is selling off its loyalty business to focus on core crypto payments and settlement systems.
In October 2021, Bakkt became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange via a SPAC merger and is traded there under the ticker BKKT.
Stablecoins (cryptocurrencies pegged to fiat like USD or EUR) are increasingly used for fast, low-cost transactions and blockchain-based financial services, both in crypto-native and more traditional financial settings. By bringing stablecoin infrastructure in-house, Bakkt aims to position itself as a key player in regulated crypto payments, settlement, and digital asset-based banking solutions, attractive for large institutions and enterprise partners.
The company to be acquired, Distributed Technologies Research Ltd. (DTR), is a fintech focused on stablecoin payments and global payments infrastructure. Founded in 2023, it develops proprietary technology that enables stablecoin settlement, blockchain-based transfers, and payment processing services that businesses and financial institutions can integrate into their systems. The company’s tech aims to reduce costs and complexity around traditional finance rails by leveraging blockchain and stablecoin rails, which can settle faster and more transparently than legacy banking systems.
Before the acquisition, DTR and Bakkt entered a cooperation and strategic partnership in 2025, with the aim of integrating DTR’s stablecoin payment architecture with Bakkt’s broader crypto trading and settlement platform. As the integration work progressed over the following months, Bakkt’s leadership concluded that DTR’s technology was exceptionally aligned with their long-term vision. Bringing the former third-party technology fully in-house accelerates development and gives Bakkt more control over the roadmap, serving as the culmination of the firm’s cohesive strategy to transform into a unified global financial infrastructure platform.
