Zoth, the privacy-first stablecoin neobank purpose-built for the Global South & the Agentic Economy, and Bakkt, Inc., a licensed digital asset infrastructure company, have inked an MOU establishing the framework for a strategic partnership.
A natural partnership
The alliance 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 required by the enterprise client.
On the other hand, Zoth brings the payment corridors, on-the-ground market operations, and compliant last-mile infrastructure across high-growth emerging markets. In unison, they will form a full-stack solution for compliant, institutional-grade cross-border payments at scale.
The compliance advantage missing in other payment infrastructures
While it’s true that stablecoin infrastructure for cross-border payments exists, along with the demand from financial institutions and money transfer operators (MTOs), the bottleneck has always been regulatory compliance.
Large MTOs and regulated financial institutions need global coverage. Unfortunately, the majority of operators in this space have not solved this.
However, by securing a US-licensed counterparty through Bakkt’s regulatory framework, Zoth will hold a structural compliance advantage that’s missing among competing payment infrastructure providers.
Under the partnership, Zoth will operate as an Authorized Agent within Bakkt Financial Solutions I, LLC’s licensing structure. This arrangement will give Zoth’s enterprise MTO pipeline the US-licensed counterparty they need to clear compliance gates and close deals.
Bakkt brings the complete US licensing stack
Choosing a licensing partner is a trust signal that determines whether enterprise deals get signed or not. Bakkt Financial Solutions I, LLC’s credentials align with what Zoth’s institutional partners require.
Currently, Bakkt holds the Money Transmitter License, the New York BitLicense, and the FinCEN MSB Registration.
Zoth: The operator built for the Global South
While 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.
Further, Zoth boasts of partnerships with Intellistake, a Canadian Stock Exchange-listed company supporting compliant, institutional-grade digital asset infrastructure.
In addition, they have a pact with Olea, a trade finance platform making global trade faster, simpler, and more accessible. Finally, they are also partnered with Chainlink, a leading infrastructure provider for cross-chain interoperability and on-chain connectivity.
As for the products, Zoth has several offerings – including Zoth Vault, which gives yield via DeFi & RWA strategies. It also offers Zoth Regulated Funds, Zoth Payments, and Zoth Agentic Payments.
Zoth enters this partnership as a proven operator with the market infrastructure, enterprise relationships, and regulatory groundwork already in place.
It is backed by leading investors including SOSV, Taisu Ventures, Borderless Capital, and Blockchain Founders Fund, and has already sold more than $75 million in yield products, besides having a $300 million annualized TPV.
The corridors where the volume lives
The remittance corridors that Zoth operates in are not just 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.
For US-based MTOs, this partnership offers something very 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, including 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.
