Nexo, the digital asset wealth platform managing $11 billion in assets, officially relaunched its US operations on February 16, 2026, ending a three-year absence that began when the company walked away from American regulators in late 2022. The comeback is anchored by a partnership with Bakkt, the publicly listed digital asset infrastructure company, which provides the regulated trading backbone for Nexo's full suite of investment and credit products.
From "Dead End" to Front Door: Nexo's Three-Year Arc
The story of Nexo's US exit reads like a cautionary tale from the 2022 enforcement wave. The company had been offering its Earn Interest Product, which let users deposit crypto and earn yield, a product that attracted the attention of both the SEC and multiple state regulators. California and New York led the charge with enforcement actions, and Nexo eventually described the regulatory negotiations as reaching a "dead end."
By December 2022, Nexo had pulled out of the US entirely, joining a growing list of crypto firms that found the regulatory environment untenable during the Gensler-era SEC crackdown. The settlement came in 2023: $45 million paid to the SEC and state regulators, with an agreement to discontinue the unregistered Earn Interest Product.
What changed? The Trump administration's explicitly crypto-friendly posture has rewritten the regulatory landscape. Nexo first signaled its return in April 2025, spending the next ten months building the compliance architecture needed to re-enter the market. Co-founder Antoni Trenchev has been visible in Washington circles, including appearances alongside Donald Trump Jr., positioning the company as a beneficiary of the new regulatory thaw.
What Nexo Is Offering US Customers
The relaunched US platform is not a stripped-down version of its global product. Nexo is rolling out four core services:
Fixed and flexible yield programs. Users can deposit crypto and earn yield, the same concept that triggered the 2022 exit, but now operating within a registered, compliant framework. Fixed terms lock deposits for higher rates, while flexible options allow instant withdrawals.
Integrated crypto exchange. Powered by Bakkt's trading infrastructure, giving users access to buy, sell, and swap digital assets directly within the Nexo platform. Bakkt brings its own regulatory licenses and institutional-grade risk management systems.
Crypto-backed credit lines. Borrow against crypto holdings without selling them, a product that avoids triggering taxable events. This has been one of Nexo's strongest global offerings, with the company reporting $371 billion in total transactions processed to date.
Fiat on and off-ramps. ACH and wire transfer support for moving dollars in and out of the platform, removing the friction that plagues many crypto-native platforms.
Why Bakkt Is the Key to the Compliance Puzzle
Bakkt is not just a white-label trading API. The company, which went public via SPAC in 2021, holds money transmitter licenses across multiple US states and operates under institutional compliance standards. For Nexo, partnering with Bakkt rather than building its own US trading infrastructure from scratch solves two problems simultaneously: speed to market and regulatory credibility.
The partnership structure means Nexo's investment and credit products sit on top of Bakkt's regulated execution layer. This is the same playbook that other returning crypto firms have adopted. Rather than fighting for individual state licenses, companies are increasingly partnering with already-licensed US entities to accelerate their re-entry.
Bakkt itself has been searching for relevance after its stock price declined more than 90% from its 2021 SPAC highs. Landing Nexo as a major platform partner gives Bakkt a showcase client for its B2B infrastructure business.
The $11 Billion Question: Can Nexo Compete in a Changed Market?
Nexo left the US managing billions, but the competitive landscape has shifted dramatically since 2022. Coinbase has consolidated its position as the default regulated US platform. Kraken settled its own SEC issues and expanded its product suite. Gemini won a protracted legal battle and relaunched its earn program. Even traditional finance players like BlackRock and Fidelity now offer crypto products through ETF wrappers.
The $11 billion AUM figure, while substantial, puts Nexo in a different category than the exchange-first platforms. Nexo's strength has always been its wealth management angle: yield, lending, and portfolio services rather than pure trading volume. That positioning may actually work in its favor. The US market is saturated with exchanges but underserved in crypto-native lending and yield products that operate within clear regulatory guardrails.
The risk is execution. Nexo needs to demonstrate that its compliance framework is genuinely different from the one that triggered SEC action in 2022, not just the same product repackaged under a friendlier administration. If the political winds shift again, companies that relied on regulatory goodwill rather than structural compliance will be the first to face scrutiny.
What This Means for Crypto Card and Wallet Users
Nexo already operates a crypto card globally, and the US relaunch raises the obvious question: will the Nexo Card follow? The company has not announced card availability for US customers as part of this initial rollout, but the infrastructure is in place. Nexo's card product, which lets users spend against their crypto holdings without selling, pairs directly with the crypto-backed credit line feature now available in the US.
For users of other crypto card platforms, Nexo's return adds competitive pressure. More platforms competing for US customers means better rates, lower fees, and more aggressive rewards programs. The yield products in particular matter: users who earn yield on idle crypto can use those returns to offset card spending costs, creating a more capital-efficient spending loop.
The broader signal is clear. The US crypto market is reopening, and companies that left during the 2022-2023 enforcement wave are coming back. Nexo's return follows OKX securing an EU payments license and other platforms expanding their regulated footprints globally. The question is no longer whether crypto firms can operate in the US, but how quickly they can rebuild the trust they lost.
FAQ
Is Nexo available in all 50 US states? Nexo has not disclosed its initial state availability. Given that licensing varies by state, the rollout may be phased, starting in states where Bakkt already holds money transmitter licenses.
What happened with Nexo's SEC settlement? Nexo paid $45 million to the SEC and state regulators in 2023 to settle charges that its Earn Interest Product was an unregistered securities offering. The settlement required Nexo to discontinue the product in its original form.
Is this the same yield product that got Nexo in trouble? The concept is similar, earning yield on deposited crypto, but Nexo says the relaunched product operates within a compliant, registered framework built over the past ten months. The partnership with Bakkt provides the regulated infrastructure layer.
Does the Nexo Card work in the US now? Nexo has not announced US card availability as part of this relaunch. The initial rollout covers yield, exchange, lending, and fiat ramp services. Card expansion may follow.
Overview
Nexo has officially returned to the United States after a three-year regulatory absence, partnering with publicly listed Bakkt to provide the compliant trading and custody infrastructure for its full product suite. The platform brings $11 billion in AUM and $371 billion in lifetime transaction volume, offering US customers fixed and flexible yield programs, an integrated exchange, crypto-backed credit lines, and ACH/wire fiat ramps. The return follows a $45 million SEC settlement in 2023 and ten months of compliance rebuilding under a more crypto-friendly administration. While the initial launch does not include Nexo's card product, the infrastructure suggests card expansion could follow as the platform re-establishes its US footprint.
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