Bakkt has agreed to acquire Apex Crypto, a deal worth up to $200 million that the digital asset platform says will expand its footprint into new areas.
“We found a unique asset in Apex Crypto, which will expand our crypto client base, provide us with faster speed to market for new crypto capabilities and serve as an additional avenue for continued sales to a crypto-savvy audience through Apex Fintech Solutions,” Bakkt CEO Gavin Michael said in a Thursday (Nov. 3) news release.
Bakkt says the deal will allow it to offer its services as a crypto provider for FinTechs, trading app platforms and neobanks.
“It’s also expected to enable us to unlock more innovative opportunities that appeal to the next generation of consumers such as crypto rewards and NFTs,” Michael said.
According to the release, Bakkt will initially pay $55 million in cash at the closing of the deal, and up to $45 million in Bakkt stock depending on how Apex performs in the fourth quarter of the year. Bakkt will also pay another $100 million in stock and seller notes, contingent on Apex reaching financial targets through the end of 2025.
The agreement also gives Apex Fintech Solutions the opportunity to bring Bakkt’s platform solutions to its customers.
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PYMNTS spoke to Michael in May, when he said he wasn’t concerned about the downturn in the cryptocurrency market.
“I think we’re past that inflection point of whether a company should have a crypto strategy,” said Michael “We believe crypto has proven it’s here to stay. Consumers remain very interested in cryptocurrency and other digital assets. And that interest is really not waning.”
He contended that companies of all sizes should begin “evaluating what their crypto strategy should be, based on their unique customer makeup and pain points.”
The consumer-facing “super app” wallet is just part of Bakkt’s offerings, he added. The company, which spun off from New York Stock Exchange owner Intercontinental Exchange, is chiefly a B2B2C platform, he said.
It is focused, Michael told PYMNTS, on the “next hundred million” consumers at “the intersection of crypto, payments, and loyalty.” Consumers who are, Michael claimed, using the digital assets that are the “connective tissue in the new economy” that they power every day.
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