Bakkt Stock Nears $25 Per Share After Mastercard Crypto Team-Up

Digital asset platform Bakkt saw its stock jump significantly Monday (Oct. 25) in the wake of its collaboration with Mastercard that gives cryptocurrency access to its customers, Barron’s reported.

Mastercard will embed Bakkt’s crypto offerings across its banking and shopping platforms, allowing users to buy, sell and hold digital currencies in their wallets, according to the report. Mastercard partners — including restaurants and merchants — can also issue cryptocurrency credit and debit cards and offer crypto as loyalty program rewards. Mastercard and Maestro had 2.9 billion branded cards in circulation as of June 30.

Bakkt’s stock was up 169% on the news to $25.64 per share, and Mastercard was up 0.9%

“We’re incredibly excited to partner with Mastercard to bring crypto loyalty services to millions of consumers,” said Bakkt Executive Vice President of Loyalty Rewards and Payments Nancy Gordon in the report. “As brands and merchants look to appeal to younger consumers and their transaction preferences, these new offerings represent a unique opportunity to satisfy increasing demand for crypto, payment and rewards flexibility.”

Bakkt began publicly trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Oct. 18, after announcing its special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger plans in January, which put Bakkt’s value at $2.1 billion.

Bakkt CEO Gavin Michael told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster this week that loyalty programs are due for an overhaul, and digital currency is just the antidote.

Read more: Bakkt’s Plan to Grow Its Digital Asset Network From 100K Active Users to 32 Million In Five Years

Bakkt’s platform allows consumers to leverage the company’s app to manage and spend everything from cryptocurrencies to rewards points to gift cards. Users can convert digital currency to cash, send gift cards, crypto or cash to other people or redeem airline miles for electronics, among other examples.

Bakkt is also teaming up with Finastra to give community banks and credit unions (CUs) access to cryptocurrency. Through a partnership with Google, Bakkt users could add their virtual Bakkt debit cards into Google Pay to buy and sell anywhere Google Pay is accepted. Bitcoin and other digital currency would be converted to fiat currency to enable these payments.