Bakkt and ICE Strengthen Long-Term Alignment Through Board Transition
Bakkt (NYSE:BKKT) announced that David Clifton, an ICE executive and founding board member, stepped down from Bakkt’s Board effective Oct 31, 2025. Clifton previously served as interim CEO in 2020 and had occupied the ICE‑designated board seat created under the IPO for two years plus an additional two years to help build the business.
ICE said its support remains strong, that it continues as a major shareholder aligned with Bakkt’s success, and Bakkt said the move reflects growing board independence and its new leadership as the company completes its transformation ahead of 2026.
Bakkt (NYSE:BKKT) ha annunciato che David Clifton, un dirigente di ICE e membro fondatore del consiglio di amministrazione, si è dimesso dal Consiglio di Bakkt con effetto dal 31 ottobre 2025. Clifton in precedenza ha ricoperto il ruolo di CEO ad interim nel 2020 ed aveva occupato il seggio del consiglio designato da ICE, creato nell'ambito dell'IPO, per due anni e altri due anni per aiutare a far crescere l'attività.
ICE ha detto che il suo sostegno rimane forte, che continua a essere un azionista importante allineato al successo di Bakkt, e Bakkt ha affermato che la mossa riflette una crescente indipendenza del consiglio e la sua nuova leadership mentre l'azienda procede nella trasformazione prima del 2026.
Bakkt (NYSE:BKKT) anunció que David Clifton, un ejecutivo de ICE y miembro fundador de la junta, renunció a la junta de Bakkt con efecto a partir del 31 de octubre de 2025. Clifton anteriormente ocupó el cargo de CEO interino en 2020 y había ocupado el escaño en la junta designado por ICE, creado al amparo de la OPI, durante dos años más otros dos años para ayudar a impulsar el negocio.
ICE afirmó que su apoyo sigue siendo sólido, que continúa siendo un accionista importante alineado con el éxito de Bakkt, y Bakkt dijo que la medida refleja una mayor independencia de la junta y su nuevo liderazgo a medida que la compañía avanza en su transformación de cara al 2026.
Bakkt (NYSE:BKKT)는 David Clifton이 ICE 경영진이자 설립 이사회 구성원으로서 2025년 10월 31일부로 Bakkt 이사회에서 물러났다고 발표했습니다.
Clifton은 이전에 2020년에 임시 CEO를 역임했고, IPO 당시 ICE가 지정한 이사회 좌석을 2년간 차지했고 비즈니스를 구축하는 데 도움을 주기 위해 추가로 2년동안 더 머물렀습니다.
ICE는 그의 지지가 여전히 강하다고 말했고, Bakkt의 성공에 맞춰 주요 주주로 남아 있으며, Bakkt는 이 변화가 이사회 독립성과 새로운 리더십을 반영한다고 말했고, 회사가 2026년을 앞두고 변화를 완성해 가고 있다고 덧붙였습니다.
Bakkt (NYSE:BKKT) a annoncé que David Clifton, un dirigeant d'ICE et membre fondateur du conseil, a démissionné du conseil de Bakkt à effet du 31 octobre 2025.
Clifton avait précédemment occupé le poste de PDG par intérim en 2020 et avait occupé le siège du conseil désigné par ICE, créé dans le cadre de l'IPO, pendant deux ans, puis deux années supplémentaires pour aider à faire croître l'activité.
ICE a déclaré que son soutien demeure fort, qu'il continue d'être un actionnaire important aligné sur le succès de Bakkt, et Bakkt a déclaré que le mouvement reflète une indépendance croissante du conseil et sa nouvelle direction alors que l'entreprise termine sa transformation avant le 2026.
Bakkt (NYSE:BKKT) gab bekannt, dass David Clifton, ein ICE-Führungskraft und Gründungsmitglied des Vorstands, mit Wirkung zum 31. Oktober 2025 vom Bakkt-Vorstand zurückgetreten ist.
Clifton hatte zuvor als Interim-CEO im 2020 fungiert und hatte den vom IPO vorgesehenen ICE-Vorstandssitz, der zur Aufbau des Geschäfts geschaffen wurde, zwei Jahre lang inne und danach zwei weitere Jahre, um das Geschäft zu unterstützen.
ICE erklärte, dass seine Unterstützung weiterhin stark sei, dass es weiterhin als bedeutender Aktionär im Einklang mit dem Erfolg von Bakkt stehe, und Bakkt sagte, der Schritt widerspiegle eine wachsende Unabhängigkeit des Vorstands und seine neue Führung, während das Unternehmen seine Transformation vor dem 2026 abschließt.
Bakkt (NYSE:BKKT) أعلنت أن David Clifton، مسؤول تنفيذي في ICE وعضو مجلس الإدارة المؤسس، سيتنحى عن مجلس Bakkt اعتباراً من 31 أكتوبر 2025.
شغل Clifton سابقاً منصب الرئيس التنفيذي المؤقت في 2020 وكان قد شغل مقعد مجلس الإدارة المعين من ICE الذي أُنشئ بموجب عملية الاكتتاب العام لمدة عامين ثم عامين إضافيين للمساعدة في بناء الأعمال.
وقالت ICE إن دعمها ما يزال قوياً، وأنها ستظل مساهمًا رئيسيًا متوافقاً مع نجاح Bakkt، وقالت Bakkt إن هذا التحرك يعكس استقلالية مجلس الإدارة المتزايدة وقيادتها الجديدة فيما تكمل الشركة تحولها قبل 2026.
- Board transition completed on Oct 31, 2025
- ICE remains a major shareholder and publicly supports Bakkt
- Company moving toward a more independent board under new leadership for 2026
- Departure of a founding board member and long‑time ICE designee could reduce institutional board continuity
NEW YORK, Oct. 31, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bakkt Holdings, Inc. (“Bakkt” or the “Company”) (NYSE:BKKT) announced today that David Clifton, an ICE executive and a founding member of Bakkt’s Board, has stepped down from his position on the Company’s Board, following years of service in establishing and guiding the Company’s foundation.
Jeff Sprecher, Founder, Chair and CEO of ICE, commented, “ICE’s support for Bakkt has never been stronger. Under Akshay Naheta’s leadership and with Bakkt’s proven regulatory and technological foundation, we believe Bakkt is well-positioned for long-term success.”
In addition to his role on the Board, Mr. Clifton also served as interim CEO of the Company in 2020, prior to its initial public offering. Under the terms of the IPO, ICE retained the right to designate one member of the Company’s Board for two years after the IPO, and designated Mr. Clifton for that position; however, Mr. Clifton served an additional two years to help build the business. The Company believes that the timing of this transition is appropriate: ICE remains a major shareholder fully aligned with Bakkt’s success, while Bakkt continues with an increasingly independent board and a new leadership team.
Akshay Naheta, Bakkt’s CEO, stated, “We are grateful to David Clifton for his instrumental role in Bakkt’s journey from inception. We also value ICE’s enduring support as we approach the completion of our transformation this year and prepare to enter Bakkt’s next phase of growth starting in 2026.”
Mr. Clifton said, “Bakkt was built to operate with the rigor and independence expected of a public company, and this transition reflects that maturity. I’m proud to have been a part of a business that continues to evolve under Akshay’s leadership and a strong, independent board.”
About ICE
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE) is a Fortune 500 company that designs, builds, and operates digital networks that connect people to opportunity. We provide financial technology and data services across major asset classes helping our customers access mission-critical workflow tools that increase transparency and efficiency. ICE’s futures, equity, and options exchanges -- including the New York Stock Exchange -- and clearing houses help people invest, raise capital and manage risk. We offer some of the world’s largest markets to trade and clear energy and environmental products. Our fixed income, data services and execution capabilities provide information, analytics and platforms that help our customers streamline processes and capitalize on opportunities. At ICE Mortgage Technology, we are transforming U.S. housing finance, from initial consumer engagement through loan production, closing, registration and the long-term servicing relationship. Together, ICE transforms, streamlines, and automates industries to connect our customers to opportunity.
Trademarks of ICE and/or its affiliates include Intercontinental Exchange, ICE, ICE block design, NYSE and New York Stock Exchange. Information regarding additional trademarks and intellectual property rights of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. and/or its affiliates is located here. Key Information Documents for certain products covered by the EU Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products Regulation can be accessed on the relevant exchange website under the heading “Key Information Documents (KIDS).”
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 -- Statements in this press release regarding ICE's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see ICE's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors in ICE's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, as filed with the SEC on February 6, 2025.
About Bakkt
Founded in 2018, Bakkt is building the backbone of next-generation financial infrastructure. The company provides solutions that enable institutional participation in the digital asset economy — spanning Bitcoin, tokenization, stablecoin payments, and AI-driven finance. With the scale, security, and regulatory compliance demanded by global institutions, Bakkt is positioned at the center of a generational transformation in what money is, how it moves, and how markets operate.
Bakkt is headquartered in New York, NY. For more information, visit: https://www.bakkt.com/ |
X @Bakkt | LinkedIn
For investor and media inquiries, please contact:
Investor Relations
Yujia Zhai
Orange Group
yujia@orangegroupadvisors.com
Media
Luna PR
Gregor@lunapr.io
Laura@lunapr.io
Source: Bakkt Holdings, Inc.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as “will,” “likely,” “expect,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “believe,” “intend,” “plan,” “projection,” “outlook,” “grow,” “progress,” “potential” or the negative of such terms or other variations thereof and words and terms of similar substance used in connection with any discussion of future plans, actions, or events identify forward-looking statements. However, the absence of these words does not mean that the statements are not forward-looking. Such forward-looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of the Company’s management and are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are difficult to predict and beyond the Company’s control.
Actual results and the timing of events may differ materially from the results anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of the following factors, among others: the Company’s ability to grow and manage growth profitably; whether the Company will be able to successfully integrate its operations with those of Distributed Technologies Research Ltd. (“DTR”), including its infrastructure, and achieve the expected benefits therefrom; the regulatory environment for crypto currencies and digital stablecoin payments; changes in the Company’s business strategy, including its adoption of a digital asset treasury strategy; the price of digital assets; risks associated with owning digital assets, including price volatility, limited liquidity and trading volumes, relative anonymity, potential widespread susceptibility to market abuse and manipulation, compliance and internal control failures at exchanges and other risks inherent in its entirely electronic, virtual, form and decentralized network; the fluctuation of the Company’s operating results, including because the Company may be required to account for its digital assets at fair value; the Company’s ability to time the price of its purchase of digital assets pursuant to its strategy; the impact of the market value of digital assets on the Company’s ability to satisfy its financial obligations, including any debt financings; unrealized fair value gains on its digital asset holdings subjecting the Company to the corporate alternative minimum tax; legal, commercial, regulatory and technical uncertainty regarding digital assets and enhanced regulatory oversight of companies holding digital assets including the possibility that regulators reclassify any digital assets the Company holds as a security causing the Company to be in violation of securities laws and be classified as an “investment company” under the Investment Company Act of 1940; competition by other Bitcoin treasury companies and the availability of spot-traded products for Bitcoin; enhanced regulatory oversight as a result of the Company’s treasury strategy; the possibility of experiencing greater fraud, security failures or operational problems on digital asset trading venues compared to trading venues for more established asset classes, and any malfunction, breakdown or abandonment of the underlying blockchain protocols, or other technological difficulties, may prevent access to or use of such digital assets; the concentration of the Company’s expected digital asset holdings relative to non-digital assets; the inability to use the Company’s digital asset holdings as a source of liquidity to the same extent as cash and cash equivalents, due to, for example, risks associated with digital assets and other risks inherent to its entirely electronic, virtual form and decentralized network; the Company or a third-party service provider experiencing a security breach or cyber-attack where unauthorized parties obtain access to its digital assets; the loss of access to or theft or data loss of the Company’s digital assets, which could be unrecoverable due to the immutable nature of blockchain transactions; if the Company elects to hold its digital assets through a third-party custodian, the loss of direct control over its digital assets and dependence on the custodian’s security practices and operational integrity which may lead to the loss of its digital assets as a result of the insolvency of the custodian, theft by employees or insiders of the custodian or if the custodian’s security measures are comprised, including as a result of a cyber-attack; the Company not being subject to the legal and regulatory protections applicable to investment companies such as mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, or to obligations applicable to investment advisers; the non-performance, breach of contract or other violations by counterparties assisting the Company in effecting its treasury strategy; the Company’s future capital requirements and sources and uses of cash, including funds to satisfy its liquidity needs; changes in the market in which the Company competes, including with respect to its competitive landscape, technology evolution or changes in applicable laws or regulations; changes in the markets that the Company targets; volatility and disruptions in the crypto, digital payments and stablecoin markets that subject the Company to additional risks, including the risk that banks may not provide banking services to the Company and market sentiments regarding crypto currencies, digital payments and stablecoins; the possibility that the Company may be adversely affected by other macroeconomic, geopolitical, business, and/or competitive factors; the Company’s ability to launch new services and products, including with its expected commercial partners, or to profitably expand into new markets and services; the Company’s ability to execute its growth strategies, including identifying and executing acquisitions and divestitures and the Company’s initiatives to add new clients; the Company’s ability to reach definitive agreements with its expected commercial counterparties; the Company’s ability to successfully complete a strategic transaction of the Loyalty business; the Company’s failure to comply with extensive government regulations, oversight, licensure and appraisals; uncertain and evolving regulatory regime governing blockchain technologies, stablecoins, digital payments and crypto; the Company’s ability to establish and maintain effective internal controls and procedures; the exposure to any liability, protracted and costly litigation or reputational damage relating to the Company’s data security; the impact of any goodwill or other intangible assets impairments on the Company’s operating results; the Company’s ability to maintain the listing of its securities on the New York Stock Exchange; and other risks and uncertainties indicated in the Company’s filings with the SEC, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 and its most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2025, and the risks regarding the Company’s adoption of its Treasury Strategy set forth on in Exhibit 99.1 to its Current Report on Form 8-K, dated as of the date hereof.
You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements relate only to events as of the date on which such statements are made and are based on information available to us as of the date of this release.
FAQ
Who stepped down from Bakkt’s board on October 31, 2025 (BKKT)?
What role did David Clifton hold previously at Bakkt (BKKT)?
Does ICE remain involved with Bakkt after the October 31, 2025 board change (BKKT)?
How does Bakkt describe the impact of the board transition on strategy (BKKT)?
Who is leading Bakkt after the board transition and what is the timeline (BKKT)?
