Bakkt Announces Akshay Naheta as Co-CEO, Share Jumps 13%
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Bakkt Announces Akshay Naheta as Co-CEO, Share Jumps 13%
Bakkt, an American digital asset and custody firm, saw a significant transformation, bringing on Akshay Naheta as co-CEO.
The company also announced a strategic partnership with Naheta’s payments startup, Distributed Technologies Research (DTR).
Bakkt aims to reposition the company within the crypto payments and trading space after a challenging period marked by lost partnerships with Bank of America (BAC) and Webull Pay.
Leadership Reshuffle
Naheta, a former SoftBank executive known for high-profile investments in Nvidia and ARM, will join current CEO Andy Main in leading Bakkt. His expertise in fintech and blockchain is expected to drive the company’s next growth phase.
A key element of the strategy is the integration of Bakkt’s trading and brokerage services with DTR’s stablecoin-based payments infrastructure.
DTR leverages blockchain APIs and a proprietary routing system to enhance payment efficiency, potentially unlocking new revenue streams in crypto trading and cross-border transactions.
It is important to note that these major changes are still not approved by proper regulatory authorities, a process which could delay implementation.
Major Revenue Hit: Loss of Key Partnerships
Earlier this week, Bakkt suffered a severe financial blow as both Bank of America and Webull Pay decided not to renew their commercial agreements with the company.
Notably, Bank of America accounted for 16% of Bakkt’s loyalty service revenue in 2023 and Webull Pay represented a massive 74% of the company’s crypto service revenue.
The Bank of America agreement ends on April 22, while Webull’s contract expires on June 14, leaving a significant revenue gap that Bakkt must fill through its new initiatives.
BKKT Stock Analysis
BKKT shares rose 13% pre-market, fueled by investor optimism around the leadership shakeup. However, technical indicators suggest a volatile trajectory.
The stock is trading near the lower Bollinger Band (BB), indicating oversold conditions and a potential mean reversion upwards. However, resistance at the mid-BB level (~$12.30) could cap short-term gains.
On the other hand, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) is currently at 39, successfully avoiding an entry into the oversold territory. The gradient of the line suggests signs of recovery.
Despite today’s jump, Bakkt faces strong resistance at $12–$13, and sustaining gains will require tangible progress on its DTR integration and revenue diversification.
Critical Warning for Ripple Investors: Is XRP Poised to Drop 50%?
TL;DR
- Ripple won the four-year legal battle against the SEC, expects an XRP ETF in the States, and a potential IPO in the country – but is the native token about to drop?
- A popular analyst with over 130,000 followers on X suggested that the trend might have changed.
From Good to Better
Everything seems to be going Ripple’s way as of recently. After the US presidential elections, the entire landscape in the States changed for the better, and being situated there and sued by the local securities regulator for four years, Ripple was among the biggest beneficiaries.
The native token’s name was even mentioned by the new US president to be included in the country’s strategic crypto reserve. Reports emerged that the same regulator that sued the company for selling an unregistered security in the form of XRP has now contemplated classifying it as a commodity.
And to top it all off, just a few weeks after that, Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse declared a victory in the aforementioned legal case against the SEC. All eyes are now on the potential approval of an XRP ETF, which could complete a stellar year for Ripple and its community.
All of that sounds like good news, right? Well, XRP’s price indeed went on a spectacular run after the elections. However, it failed to breach its 2018 all-time high despite matching it in January and has since fallen by 30% in spite of all the positive developments mentioned above.
This points to a classic ‘sell-the-news‘ moment for XRP, which rallied on the hype of regulatory changes and closure in the SEC case but failed to materialize on the actual changes and victory in the lawsuit.
Is XRP About to Drop?
Unlike the overall bullish sentiment and the multiple mind-blowing price predictions for XRP’s future, Ali Martinez outlined a highly controversial take that foresees a substantial crash for the asset.
He believes the recent price pump-and-dump by XRP has created a head-and-shoulders pattern that could result in an immediate correction of up to 50%. If it materializes, the fourth-largest digital asset could plummet toward $1.25.
$XRP wild ride! After yesterday’s pump, a head-and-shoulders pops up on high timeframes. pic.twitter.com/3UM3vB2dG2
— Ali (@ali_charts) March 20, 2025
The post Critical Warning for Ripple Investors: Is XRP Poised to Drop 50%? appeared first on CryptoPotato.
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Terrifying Ripple (XRP) Price Predictions During Ongoing Crypto Markets Turmoil
