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Bakkt Brokerage: Helping Investment Apps Add Crypto While Preserving Trust

 

The U.S. crypto market is evolving rapidly – and so are customer expectations. Traditional investment apps that once focused solely on equities, ETFs, or mutual funds are now facing increasing demand for cryptocurrency access. Adding digital assets to your platform is no longer just about following a trend; it’s essential for staying relevant in a financial landscape where crypto is becoming a baseline expectation.

For many, the challenge lies in adding crypto capabilities without disrupting the performance, trust, and user experience they’ve spent years building. That’s where Bakkt Brokerage comes in. Built to bridge common infrastructure and compliance gaps, Bakkt offers a streamlined, secure, and fully regulated path for traditional apps to enter the crypto market – without the complexity.  Supported by institutional-grade liquidity, performance, and security at the foundation, traditional investment apps gain everything they need to expand their asset class offerings to crypto – and build lasting, scalable success in this new era.

Overcoming Barriers to Entry

Integrating crypto offerings with a traditional investing platform often requires navigating unfamiliar terrain: crypto-specific compliance frameworks, sourcing liquidity from unfamiliar counterparties, and the challenge of aligning new functionality with an existing tech stack. Bakkt Brokerage removes these obstacles.

As a U.S.-regulated, publicly traded company with licensing coverage across all 50 states (including an NYDFS BitLicense and Money Transmitter Licenses), Bakkt gives traditional investment apps immediate access to a turnkey regulatory foundation. Instead of building a crypto infrastructure framework from scratch – and absorbing the associated costs and delays – you can plug into Bakkt’s API-first ecosystem and go live in just 30 to 45 days.

Optimized Liquidity, Built for Scale

Bakkt Brokerage was designed to help traditional apps adopt crypto without compromise – combining trusted infrastructure with the flexibility to support integration at scale. In today’s market, liquidity is your lifeline. That’s why Bakkt’s robust infrastructure and liquidity aggregation platform are built to deliver high performance at a low cost, offering:

  • Consolidated access to top global liquidity providers
  • Low-latency, high-throughput execution
  • Minimal slippage and customizable liquidity streams
  • 24/7/365 uptime with real-time price discovery

For investment app providers, this means reliable price execution, efficient inventory management, and a trading experience built to scale with user demand.

The Bakkt Advantage: Embedded Crypto, Institutional Standards

Behind every successful crypto rollout is a foundation of institutional-grade infrastructure. Here’s what that looks like with Bakkt:

  • Seamless Crypto Integration: Bakkt’s comprehensive API suite connects directly to your existing tech stack – including account management, trade execution, and payment systems – so you can embed crypto without rebuilding your platform. Customize onboarding, trading workflows, and UX to suit your brand and clients.

  • Regulatory Confidence, Out of the Box: With full regulatory coverage across the U.S., you benefit from Bakkt’s compliance-first infrastructure. KYC/AML processes are streamlined via robust API endpoints, while Bakkt’s consultative approach helps your team extend traditional compliance expertise to crypto.

  • Faster Time to Market: With pre-integrated back-office systems, crypto can go from concept to customer offering in a matter of weeks – no need to build new systems or hire a dedicated crypto team.

     

  • Minimal Development Overhead: Whether you’re embedding select services or white-labeling the entire crypto experience, Bakkt’s APIs and documentation reduce the technical lift and accelerate deployment.

Where Firms Trade Crypto Responsibly

Security and trust are non-negotiables – especially for investment platforms with established reputations to maintain. Bakkt Brokerage approaches crypto integration with the same rigor expected in traditional financial markets. Bakkt is SOC 1 Type 2 and SOC 2 Type 2 certified, conducts annual penetration testing, and acts as the custodian of record to ensure assets are protected at all times. U.S.-regulated, publicly traded, and subject to regular audits and strict financial, compliance, security, and risk management policies, Bakkt is an ideal provider for crypto’s increasingly regulated future.

Bringing a disciplined approach to crypto integration, Bakkt provides the infrastructure, reputation, and transparency needed to expand confidently — without compromising on security or trust.

Evolve, Integrate, Lead

Bakkt Brokerage gives traditional investment apps a low-friction path into crypto, enabling them to retain customer trust, maintain operational stability, and meet rising market standards.

Built for efficient market entry, easy liquidity access, seamless integration, and a comprehensive compliance foundation, Bakkt is more than just a trading and infrastructure provider – it’s a strategic partner that understands the high stakes of integrating crypto into your tech stack.

With Bakkt Brokerage, traditional investment platforms can:

  • Integrate crypto alongside equities and ETFs without disruption
  • Launch in the U.S. in as little as 30-45 days with full regulatory coverage
  • Deliver institutional-grade execution and liquidity with minimal slippage
  • Streamline onboarding with customizable APIs and KYC/AML tools
  • Scale securely with a partner built for stability, performance, and trust

Crypto is no longer a nice-to-have – it’s a core pillar of modern finance. With Bakkt, your platform is ready to tackle seamless market entry. To take the next step, reach out to us here. To learn more, browse the resources below (and read more on our Developer Portal).

Key Resources

Everything you need to get started with Bakkt Brokerage.

Account Opening

Clients can facilitate cryptocurrency access for their customers by enabling them to open accounts with Bakkt. Bakkt must collect customer information to validate and support these accounts, using API endpoints to submit and retrieve information, upload documents, make account updates, and more. After an account is opened, it can be funded for cryptocurrency transactions.

Read more here.

 

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A step-by-step guide to how trades are executed on Bakkt Brokerage, from market data to order completion, as well as settlement and funding workflows.

Trade Flow

  1. Price quote sent – A liquidity provider sends a live price quote to Bakkt’s BBO system.
  2. Create and mark up Best-Bid-Offer (BBO) – The BBO system aggregates quotes and applies any client-specific markup logic.
  3. Market prices displayed – Those BBO prices are streamed to the client’s system.
  4. Trade order initiated – The customer submits a buy or sell order via the client interface.
  5. Order sent to Bakkt OMS – The client’s system routes the trade to Bakkt’s Order Management System.
  6. Marketable orders sent; non-marketable rest – The OMS attempts to match and route executable orders to liquidity providers; resting orders are held.
  7. Order executed (if filled) and system alerted – If the trade is filled, Bakkt confirms execution and notifies the client system.
  8. Execution report sent – A formal execution report is generated and delivered to the client.
  9. Cash movement requested – A cash movement is triggered to settle the trade.

Settlement Flow

  1. Bakkt OMS requests fiat settlement – Once a trade is filled, the OMS signals the Trade System (BTS) to begin fiat settlement.
  2. Funds movement logged between accounts – Internal ledgering reflects movement between the customer and firm accounts in BTS.
  3. Client revenue recorded – Bakkt captures the revenue share due to the client from the transaction.
  4. Liquidity provider settlement completed – Bakkt settles with the liquidity provider based on net activity.
  5. Revenue shared – Bakkt distributes earned revenue with the client, typically daily.

Funding Flow

  1. Customer initiates a bank transfer – This could be an ACH, wire, or BaaS-based request to fund their trading account.
  2. Client system and APIs initiate the move – Client-side systems call Bakkt’s APIs to initiate funding instructions.
  3. Funds transferred to BTS – The money moves from the customer’s bank account into a Bakkt-linked customer account.
  4. Funds credited to customer’s BTS account – Bakkt updates its ledger to reflect the available trading balance for the customer.

To explore more documentation, workflow details, and FAQs, check out our Developer Portal.

 

 

This does not constitute, and should not be construed as, investment advice or a recommendation to buy, sell, or otherwise transact in any investment, including any of the product(s) mentioned herein, or an invitation, offer or solicitation to engage in any investment activity. This information is provided solely on the basis that you will make your own investment decisions, and Bakkt does not take account of any investor's investment objectives, particular needs, or financial situation. It is strongly recommended that you seek professional investment advice before making any investment decision.

1 US Currency Education Program. Accessed February 2023.

2 World Bank. “The Global Findex Database 2021: Financial Inclusion, Digital Payments, and Resilience in the age of COVID-19.” Accessed February 2023.

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