In 2023, Bakkt selected Fireblocks to rebuild its custody infrastructure, holding MPC key material on prem and policy controls managed through Fireblocks’ Policy Engine. Two years later, In 2025, Bakkt continued the relationship by addingFireblocks Trust Company, a qualified custodian, to hold a large share of its long term assets alongside the custody it continued to run for day to day operations. The new layered model gave clients an added level of assurance, helped Bakkt retain existing clients and win larger institutional accounts, and let the Bakkt team put more of its attention on trading and liquidity. Most recently, following its acquisition of EU payment infrastructure provider Distributed Technologies Research (DTR), Bakkt is connecting that business to the Fireblocks Network for Payments to reach corridors it does not yet cover while it builds out the corridors it wants to focus on. The integration adds a third product line inside the same console its operations team already uses daily.
The Search for a Long-Term Infrastructure Partner
As Bakkt grew and needed to scale, the team began looking for a pattern that could serve as the foundation for rebuilding their custody solution from the ground up. When Bakkt went to market, the team was looking for providers with a strong reputation, both within the digital assets space and from an information security standpoint, and especially providers that offered room for the Company to grow.
“With every vendor or partner we work with, we look for more than a customer and vendor relationship. We want a partner we can grow with over the long run. Fireblocks met every one of those criteria.”
SAM AUCH
SVP, Commercial U.S.
One of the major requirements was the ability for Bakkt to manage and store all MPC shares and all private key material on prem. Bakkt worked with Fireblocks to design a solution that would match those needs, and also worked with them to create a system that would not only protect assets from the cryptographic level, but also all the way through the policy aspect of user management.
Delivering Faster Speed to Market
In 2023, Bakkt landed on a combination of on-prem deployment for running Fireblocks software, and managed the Transaction Authorization Policy (TAP) Engine in a highly secure environment. That gave Bakkt’s operations team the ability to manage the whole system out of its own proprietary application that then connects to Bakkt’s customers. Bakkt has different layers of security: its own policy engine on the customer side, and one that communicates with the Fireblocks Policy Engine.
“What got us excited was the ability to manage our internal controls on the Fireblocks side through an API, so the system itself secures customer assets and streamlines our operations at the same time,” Sam shared. “One of the primary benefits of Fireblocks is speed to market for new assets. Before the rebuild, our architecture did not let us deliver new assets on the timeline customers wanted. Now we can.”
Strengthening Risk Management Through Qualified Custody
Bakkt has expanded its Fireblocks use case to include Fireblocks Trust Company for cold storage. Bakkt believes in the operational edge and revenue unlock that Fireblocks Trust provides. “Wallet addresses, private keys, and the other nuances that make this space revolutionary can also make it challenging. Unifying the experience in a console that is simple to use helps clients, at any level of digital asset experience, access everything digital assets have to offer,” Sam shared.
As Bakkt sharpened its focus on trading and liquidity, the team made a deliberate choice to add an independent qualified custodian alongside its own infrastructure. “Our internal systems and processes are incredibly secure. Partnering with a team that thinks about custody of long term assets all day, every day, gives our clients another layer of assurance that their assets are safe,” said Auch.
Bakkt moved a substantial portion of its assets to Fireblocks Trust as part of a layered custody model. Pairing its own custody infrastructure with an independent qualified custodian gave clients an added level of assurance and matched the standard many institutions expect. The approach helped Bakkt retain existing clients and expand into larger, more institutionally focused accounts. Today, Bakkt runs its own custody for day to day operations and holds a large share of its long term assets with Fireblocks Trust.
The layered model lets Bakkt keep its own custody for daily operations while an independent custodian holds long term assets, so the team can put more of its attention on trading, liquidity and the client experience, without giving up settlement speed or responsiveness. As Auch put it, qualified custody “fits nicely within a well rounded risk management approach,” a model he would recommend to any peer institution weighing whether to build its own custody infrastructure or partner with a qualified custodian like Fireblocks Trust.
Driving Usability and Adoption with the Fireblocks Network for Payments
Earlier this year, Bakkt acquired Distributed Technologies Research (DTR), a payment infrastructure company based in the EU. The acquisition brought Bakkt an experienced technology team and a mature payments product. Bakkt is now connecting that product to the Network for Payments to reach corridors it does not yet cover while it builds out the ones it wants to focus on. “Over the past month we have been integrating our payments tech stack with the Fireblocks Network for Payments, which gives us distribution and connectivity to our clients in one seamless platform,” Sam shared. The Network for Payments adds another product vertical inside the Fireblocks console, so clients can manage all of their activity in one place.
Bakkt owns the payments product and the team behind it. Fireblocks provide the distribution and connectivity that extend its reach.
“The Fireblocks Network gives clients access to tooling that makes the efficiency and cost savings of digital assets more accessible. It also fits easily into an operations process that already runs through the Fireblocks console every day.”
SAM AUCH
SVP, Commercial U.S.
What’s Next
Bakkt’s next phase of growth centers on two things: adding more assets to the platform and finding new ways to run operations more efficiently, both extensions of a relationship the team has already built with Fireblocks. “As we grow our business we want to continue to expand our relationship with Fireblocks, growing the number of assets and finding new ways to improve our operational efficiency,” Auch said.
With integration underway into the Fireblocks Network for Payments, Bakkt can reach corridors it does not yet cover while it builds out the ones it wants to own.
“Payments is our focus, and building on top of a partner and brand like Fireblocks gives us comfort that we have the infrastructure that can scale.”
SAM AUCH
SVP, Commercial U.S.
Each stage of the relationship has extended the last, and Bakkt has added products without changing the infrastructure or the partner underneath them. As Bakkt scales its payments business, it is doing so on the same foundation it has relied on since it rebuilt custody in 2023.
About Bakkt
Bakkt (NYSE: BKKT) is a regulated financial technology company building a financial operating system for the AI and token economy. Through Bakkt Markets, Bakkt Agent and Bakkt Global, the Company operates regulated infrastructure for trading, stablecoin settlement and cross-border payments; intelligence and distribution capabilities for financial products; and strategic access to differentiated assets and global markets. Bakkt serves financial institutions, fintechs and consumer brands seeking to deliver trusted financial services at scale.
Bakkt is licensed by the NYDFS as a Money Transmitter & for Virtual Currency Business Activity. bakkt.com/disclosures
