Bakkt approved for $150M securities sale to stem its cash bleed

Cash-poor crypto firm Bakkt says it has received regulatory approval to raise as much as $150 million through the sale of its securities, coming just a week after the firm signaled concerns over its balance sheet.

On Feb. 14, the firm said it had secured approval for a “shelf registration,” also known as a shelf offering — a process by which a company registers a new issue of securities with the Securities and Exchange Commission that can be gradually sold over a period without needing separate approval each time.

Bakkt said approval will allow Bakkt to raise an aggregate of $150 million in capital in one or more offerings over three years.

“Bakkt believes the flexibility of a shelf registration on Form S-3 will provide the Company with significant benefits when raising capital in the future,” the firm said.

Bakkt Shelf Registration Statement Declared Effective by the SEC: https://t.co/ekpeVaw0SA

— Bakkt (@Bakkt) February 14, 2024

Bakkt, a crypto custody and trading platform once thought to be Bitcoin’s ‘savior’ during the 2018 bear market revealed last week that it was running low on cash and, as a result, “might not be able to continue.”

Bakkt at the time said it was looking to potentially raise additional capital by issuing its registered securities in the public markets to “fund our long-term vision.”

The firm has reported eight successive quarters of net losses since it became publicly listed in October 2021.

Company financials show the firm lost $44.9 million, $50.5 million and $51.7 million through the first three quarters of 2023 despite the crypto market rebounding from a tough 2022.

Net losses narrowed in 2023 after the firm reported devastating losses of $1.59 billion and $323.9 million in the third and fourth quarters of 2022. The firm has recorded $2.26 billion in net losses since Q4 2021.

Related: Bakkt delists majority of tokens from recently acquired Apex Crypto platform

Bakkt runs a digital asset trading platform for institutions and has forged several strategic partnerships with the likes of Starbucks and Amazon Web Services to enable digital asset transactions and services.

The company was founded in 2018 by Intercontinental Exchange, a United States-based firm which owns the New York Stock Exchange.

Prior to the news, Bakkt’s (BKKT) share price increased 7.8% to $1.03, per Google Finance. However, it is still down more than 51% so far in 2024.

BKKT topped $42 on Oct. 29, 2021, but sharply fell to $3.61 the following January and began steadily trending downward soon after.

Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom