Zoth Enters into Strategic Partnership MOU with Bakkt to Enable Compliant Cross-Border Stablecoin Payments Across South Asia and MENA

WHY THIS MATTERS

The strategic partnership between Zoth and Bakkt represents a critical solution to the “compliance bottleneck” that has historically prevented major financial institutions from adopting stablecoin-based cross-border payments. While the technology for instant, on-chain settlement has existed for years, institutional money transfer operators (MTOs) have remained on the sidelines due to a lack of licensed US-based counterparties. By integrating with Bakkt Financial Solutions I, LLC—which holds pan-US money transmitter licenses and the prestigious New York BitLicense—Zoth is providing its enterprise clients with a “clear path to production.” This allows billion-dollar payment flows to move from legacy SWIFT rails to stablecoin rails with the full regulatory backing of a NYSE-listed infrastructure giant.

This move is strategically timed with the rapid growth of the “Agentic Economy,” where AI-driven treasury systems require programmable, 24/7 settlement layers. As Zoth processes a $300 million annualized TPV and manages over $75 million in yield products, the ability to operate as an Authorized Agent of Bakkt transforms its competitive standing. In the high-volume USA-to-South Asia corridor—the largest remittance flow in the world—Zoth can now offer a credentialed, end-to-end stack that addresses both the regulatory requirements of the US and the operational “last-mile” complexities of the Global South, effectively creating a new standard for institutional-grade autonomous finance.

Zoth, the privacy-first stablecoin neobank purpose-built for the Global South & the Agentic Economy, and Bakkt, Inc., a regulated digital asset infrastructure company, have signed an MOU establishing the framework for a strategic partnership. Bakkt’s participation runs through its licensed subsidiary Bakkt Financial Solutions I, LLC, which holds pan-US money transmitter licenses.

The partnership was previewed at Bakkt’s Investor Day on March 17, 2026 — marking the first public signal of the collaboration. Bakkt brings the regulatory and licensing infrastructure that enterprise clients demand.

Zoth brings the payment corridors, on-the-ground market operations, and compliant last-mile infrastructure across high-growth emerging markets. Together, they will form a full-stack solution for compliant, institutional-grade cross-border payments at scale.

The Compliance Advantage other Payment Infrastructures cannot Replicate
The stablecoin infrastructure for cross-border payments exists. The demand from financial institutions and money transfer operators (MTOs) is real. The blocker has always been regulatory compliance.

Large MTOs and regulated financial institutions need global coverage.Most operators in this space have not solved this.

By securing a US-licensed counterparty through Bakkt’s regulatory framework, Zoth will hold a structural compliance advantage that competing payment infrastructure providers cannot easily replicate.

Under the partnership, Zoth will operate as an Authorized Agent within Bakkt Financial Solutions I, LLC’s licensing structure, giving Zoth’s enterprise MTO pipeline the US-licensed counterparty they need to clear compliance gates and close deals.

Bakkt: The Complete US Licensing Stack in Digital Assets

Choosing a licensing partner is not just a compliance decision. It is a trust signal that determines whether enterprise deals get signed or stall. Bakkt Financial Solutions I, LLC’s credentials speak directly to what Zoth’s institutional partners require.

• Money Transmitter Licenses held by Bakkt Financial Solutions I, LLC across the US
• New York BitLicense, the most stringent and comprehensive digital asset licensing regime in the United States
• FinCEN MSB Registration, federal registration under the Bank Secrecy Act

For Zoth’s enterprise partners, this is not a licensing workaround. It is the credential stack that closes deals.

Zoth: The Operator Built for the Global South

Bakkt brings the regulatory stack. Zoth brings the network.

Zoth has built the operational depth, local partnerships, and platform infrastructure needed to move money efficiently and compliantly across markets that traditional financial infrastructure has consistently underserved.

Strategic Partnerships:

Intellistake- Canadian Stock Exchange-listed company supporting compliant, institutional-grade digital asset infrastructure.

Olea (Standard Chartered)- Trade finance platform making global trade faster, simpler, and more accessible.

Chainlink- Leading infrastructure provider for cross-chain interoperability and on-chain connectivity. 

Product Offerings:

• Zoth Vaults- Sustainable Yield via DeFi & RWA Strategies
• Zoth Regulated Funds- Yield for Institutional Treasuries
• Zoth Payments- Cross-Border Payment Orchestration with Licensed Partners
• Zoth Agentic Payments- AI Agent-Enabled Payments for Autonomous Finance
  

Backed by leading investors including SOSV, Taisu Ventures, Borderless Capital, and Blockchain Founders Fund, and with over $75M in yield products already sold and has a $300 million annualized TPV, Zoth enters this partnership as a proven operator with the market infrastructure, enterprise relationships, and regulatory groundwork already in place.

Pritam Dutta, Co-Founder and CEO of Zoth, said, “Stablecoin infrastructure is ready. What large institutions have been waiting for is the regulatory configuration that gives them confidence to sign. By combining Bakkt’s US licensing stack with Zoth’s payment infrastructure and on-the-ground market operations, we are creating a template for how cross-border payments in the Global South move from pilots to production at scale. This partnership does not just benefit Zoth. It benefits every enterprise partner that has been waiting for a compliant, credentialed solution built to operate.”

The Corridors: Where the Volume Lives

The remittance corridors that Zoth operates in are not niche markets. They represent some of the highest-volume payment flows in the world. For Bakkt, this partnership extends its licensed US infrastructure into the world’s fastest-growing emerging market corridors.

For Zoth, it unlocks the US-licensed counterparty that enterprise clients across the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia require before signing.

Together, they cover both ends of the world’s most valuable remittance flows:

• USA to South Asia: the single largest remittance corridor in the world, consistently ranking as the highest-volume US outbound payment flow globally and a primary growth market for US-licensed payment operators
• USA to Philippines and Nigeria: among the highest-volume US outbound corridors globally, now accessible with full compliance infrastructure in place
• USA to Middle East: a high-growth corridor serving the GCC’s large expatriate workforce base
• UAE to South Asia: the largest remittance corridor in the entire Middle East
• Sub-Saharan Africa: Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa
  

Zoth brings to this partnership what takes most operators years to build: active payment corridors across high-growth emerging markets, on-the-ground operations and local banking relationships across the GCC, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, and in-country payment infrastructure that connects institutional payment flows to the end beneficiary. This is not theoretical market access. It is a live, operational network.

For US-based MTOs, this partnership offers something rare: a fully licensed, end-to-end payment infrastructure that covers the entire US to Global South corridor stack with compliance built in from both ends.

Zoth is in partnership with major MTOs across the GCC — enterprise operators with multi-branch footprints and Central Bank licenses. With the coming partnership, the Bakkt partnership scales Zoth’s infrastructure across the North American  markets.

FF NEWS TAKE

The Zoth-Bakkt MOU marks a significant evolution for Bakkt as it pivots toward becoming the “regulatory engine” for the next generation of global neobanks. During its March 2026 Investor Day, Bakkt signaled a clear shift toward “programmable money movement,” and this partnership is the first concrete execution of that strategy. By providing the licensing stack for Zoth’s high-growth emerging market corridors, Bakkt is monetizing its hard-won regulatory pedigree while letting Zoth handle the complex, on-the-ground operational heavy lifting in regions like sub-Saharan Africa and the GCC.

However, the real test for this “full-stack” solution will be its ability to handle the scale of top-tier MTOs who are currently eyeing the 72% growth in global stablecoin volumes. While the partnership solves the compliance blocker, the operational reality of moving money between the US and markets like Nigeria or the Philippines requires deep local banking integration and sophisticated liquidity management. Zoth’s existing partnerships with Standard Chartered’s Olea and Chainlink provide a strong technical foundation, but as they scale toward a $1 billion target, the stability of their “Agentic Payments” layer will be under intense scrutiny. If successful, this partnership could finally break the legacy banking monopoly on global remittances, proving that regulated, stablecoin-based finance is no longer a pilot program but a primary global utility.