Bakkt has promoted Ray Kamrath to Chief Commercial Officer of the company’s crypto business, a newly created position that reports to Andy Main, Bakkt’s Chief Executive Officer.
Ray Kamrath, a seasoned professional with 30 years of experience in capital markets, joined Bakkt in December 2023 as the Head of Institutional Solutions.
He entered the crypto ecosystem in 2018 in several entrepreneurial and executive roles since 2018. Before that, Kamrath was Global Head of Foreign Exchange and Prime Brokerage at Jefferies, where he transformed the business into a riskless principal business leveraging advanced trading algorithms. He also worked at Goldman Sachs as Managing Director in Foreign Exchange, leading Sales and Global Electronic Trading.
As CCO, Kamrath will lead the company’s sales across Bakkt’s crypto business including trade, custody, and institutional offerings. He will also oversee marketing, strategic partnerships, client success, business development, and operations.
Custody, trading, and onramps amid next wave of crypto adoption
Andy Main, CEO of Bakkt, said: “By appointing Ray Kamrath to lead our commercial efforts, Bakkt is doubling down on our commitment to strategic expansion and growth. Ray brings a depth of experience and a proven track record of delivering business results, with deep client and marketplace relationships. All of this will be instrumental in bringing our strong, secure, and scaled crypto platform to a growing market.”
Ray Kamrath, Chief Commercial Officer of Bakkt, commented: “I’m excited to bring my energy and experience to this role and focus on forging new pathways to elevate Bakkt’s business. Bakkt has deep expertise and dynamic solutions across institutional-grade custody, trading, and onramps. We’ve identified the intersection between innovation and market needs, and I believe we are on a pathway to success as we witness the next wave of crypto adoption.”
Bakkt’s cash crisis averted
The promotion comes follows a recent cash crisis at Bakkt, which ended after received the regulatory green light from the US Securities and Exchange Commission to raise up to $150 million. The approval for a shelf registration, or shelf offering, came at a critical time for the company, just a week after voicing concerns about its dwindling cash reserves.
This mechanism enables Bakkt to issue new securities and sell them over time without seeking approval for each sale. The company plans to leverage this flexibility to gather $150 million in capital across multiple offerings over the next three years.
Founded by the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange in 2018, Bakkt had been pegged as a potential game-changer for Bitcoin during the 2018 bear market. However, recent financial disclosures reveal a company struggling to maintain its footing. Despite the crypto market’s recovery from a challenging 2022, Bakkt has reported eight consecutive quarters of net losses since becoming a publicly listed entity in October 2021.
The company’s financials highlight a losing streak of $44.9 million, $50.5 million, and $51.7 million across the first three quarters of 2023 alone, albeit better than the $1.59 billion and $323.9 million it lost in the latter half of 2022. Since the fourth quarter of 2021, Bakkt’s cumulative net losses have amounted to $2.26 billion.
