A few days ago it was announced that Starbucks is involved in the Bakkt project.
Although it is official and confirmed by Starbucks itself, there was a misunderstanding: the company had to deny that it intends to accept cryptocurrency payments.
Yes, they are involved in the development of the Bakkt project but this does not mean that the objective is to use this new platform to accept cryptocurrency payments.
Bakkt, in addition to allowing this type of payment, will also offer another interesting feature: bitcoin payments immediately converted into fiat currency.
As already described in a previous article, Bakkt will not only be the cryptocurrency exchange of the ICE, the company owning the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) but it will be a whole ecosystem, which will allow investors to buy and exchange cryptocurrencies in a simple and regulated way.
It will also allow making payments through a special app.
This app, expected in November 2018, will have two different features: with the first, it should be possible to quickly trade bitcoin, comparable to Lighting Network’s speed, while with the second, bitcoin can be used to make payments in dollars and other fiat currencies,
Basically, BTC holders will be able to use the crypto to make payments in fiat currencies on Bakkt because the platform will be able to instantly convert in fiat if necessary, without the user having to do anything.
This way you can use bitcoin to pay anything to anyone who decides to accept Bakkt as a payment method.
Starbucks is not interested in the first of the two payment methods of the app (the one that only allows trading bitcoin), but in the second.
Therefore the denial of a few days ago is correct: Starbucks will not accept cryptocurrency payments.
However, it will accept Bakkt as a payment method.
So, even if indirectly, it will be possible to pay for coffee in bitcoin without the seller being forced to accept it: the seller will receive fiat currency, even if the buyer pays in bitcoin.
Combining this functionality with the fact that it is a simple app to download and install on your mobile phone, and considering that behind all this there is a regulated exchange owned by ICE, you can well understand that it could be a real revolution.
Let’s not forget that one of Bakkt’s objectives is to allow large institutional investors to buy Bitcoin, making it easy to use (they won’t need a wallet or have to move tokens) in a market completely regulated by the CFTC, with the security guaranteed by the ICE.
All this will be made possible by a new future on bitcoin, proposed by the ICE itself, which should probably be approved in November.
Since there are already 2 other futures on Bitcoin, at the Chicago Stock Exchange, it is definitely probable that the ICE request will be approved.
But the new ICE future will be different: it will be backed by BTC. In short, it will not only be contracts traded by those who bet on the rise or fall of the price, but real contracts backed by BTC, without having to keep them in wallets and protecting the private key.
That is why these exchanges will be fast, easy and secure. Everything will be managed by the ICE, which thanks to its experience with the NYSE can guarantee the highest standards of safety and excellent performance.
At this point, it should be clear why Bakkt is expected to be able to attract institutional investors, and why companies like Starbucks will be able to accept bitcoin payments.
