In August, when Bakkt was first announced by the Intercontinental Exchange, the news world sparked with tons of articles claiming Starbucks would soon accept Bitcoin — but many media outlets jumped the gun too early.
At the time, Starbuck hadn’t confirmed that it will indeed accept bitcoins or any other cryptocurrency. It merely stated that it will play a pivotal role in the development of practical, regulated, and trusted applications that enable consumers to convert digital assets to cold hard cash.
In other words, Starbucks didn’t claim to have any plans on accepting Bitcoin (BTC) transactions. Today, Bakkt’s CEO, Kelly Loeffler, while attending Consensus Invest, said that Bakkt is working with Starbucks to give its customers more options in their ability to pay, specifically with bitcoins.
Anyone else wondering why Starbucks is working with @NYSE crypto exchange @Bakkt? Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffler says it was "to be able to give their customers more options in their ability to pay…to be able to pay with bitcoin." at #ConsensusInvest tweeting via @ForbesCrypto pic.twitter.com/TAUiGZ37MU
— Michael del Castillo (@DelRayMan) November 27, 2018
Bakkt is a physical bitcoin futures contract and warehousing provider that was initially planned to launch this month. The launch was delayed, causing a lot of stress for cryptocurrency ETF hopefuls (such as VanEck and SolidX.) The reason for the delay? An overwhelming amount of customers signing up for the platform.
Starbucks accepting Bitcoin would be undeniably huge. There are thousands of people that would use Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies to buy coffee, just for the sake of practicality and for the sake of actually using crypto. Having the option available is definitely not a drawback for Starbucks, as it will undoubtedly attract crypto consumers.
[bctt tweet=”Bakkt’s CEO claims they are working with Starbucks to give its customers more options in their ability to pay, specifically with bitcoins.” username=”beincrypto”]
On the other hand, there are still questions. Instead of collaborating with Bakkt, why doesn’t Starbucks go directly to Coinbase and use their merchant tools? Aren’t there much simpler ways to provide a wider spectrum of options for consumers?
The software exists, has successful use cases, is practical and offers much more than Bitcoin, as well as instant cash settlement in the merchant’s bank account. From the public’s perspective, it already has everything it needs to implement crypto payments.
Do you think Starbucks has plans to accept cryptocurrency payments? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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