Former SoftBank dealmaker joins crypto trading platform Bakkt as co-CEO

Ex-SoftBank official Akshay Naheta takes the helm as co-CEO of Bakkt to help revitalize the struggling crypto trading platform.

Akshay Naheta, a former SoftBank executive, has joined Bakkt as co-chief executive officer, signaling an effort to turn around the struggling American crypto trading and custody platform.

In a March 19 press release, the company said that Naheta, who will also join Bakkt’s board, will work alongside Andy Main, Bakkt’s current CEO. Prior to joining Bakkt, Naheta founded Distributed Technologies Research, a firm focused on building global payments infrastructure.

“We believe that Akshay joining the leadership team and integration of DTR’s technology with Bakkt will propel us from a leading crypto technology platform and liquidity provider into a more comprehensive, utility-based, institutional digital assets trading and payments platform.”

Andy Main

Naheta’s firm is expected to integrate its payments technology with Bakkt’s trading and brokerage services, but this will require regulatory approvals. At SoftBank, Naheta led a $4 billion investment in Nvidia in 2017, which earned $3 billion in profit, along with investments in Arm Holdings.

Bakkt, which went public in 2021 through a merger with a blank-check company, has seen a steep decline in its stock price, falling more than 62% this year. The firm has also lost major clients, Bank of America and Webull, although it retains valuable regulatory permits, such as the BitLicense from the New York State Department of Financial Services.