Kelly Loeffler – Bakkt CEO – made a very bold announcement at Consensus Invest this week. She said that Bakkt was working closely with Starbucks to help it accept Bitcoin and open a new revenue stream for the global coffee store chain. However, this isn’t the first time Starbucks has had its name thrown into the crypto arena. Earlier this year a lot of reporters jumped the gun and claimed that Starbucks was preparing to accept cryptos. At the time, Starbucks denied the claims and unequivocally said it wasn’t. Despite this, Loeffler seems adamant that her company is working with Starbucks to accept cryptos once more.
A Possible “Bakkt” Door Deal?
There was a lot of hype and interest around Starbucks accepting cryptos, leaving many disappointed when it was lambasted as fake news. Bakkt could have seen how the public reacted to the possibility and set up a deal with Starbucks to help it accept cryptos exclusively using the Bakkt platform. After all, if Starbucks wanted to accept cryptos, it could already with the numerous crypto payment gateways that are available. This raises the question, is Starbucks actually even going to accept cryptos, or is this just a huge PR stunt to pump up hype for Bakkt in January and Starbucks’ share price for Q4 results?
Bakkt Needs Good News
Bakkt is at the center of a scandal at the moment, with many believing that the two delays it has already suffered are not just technical issues – but discreet price manipulation. Bakkt’s second delay announcement came just hours after Bitcoin fell 30% in its worst week so far this year. Bitcoin was starting to look like it was recovering, but the Bakkt news drove the price lower, which in turn caused the speculation and an outcry of foul play.
Following a flurry of delays, Bakkt is now set to launch on January 24th if things to go plan. This Starbucks announcement could be the news that Bakkt needs in order to keep interest in the platform going strong.
Off-Chain Payment Solution
Thanks to Bakkt’s unique architecture and business model, if it does implement a payment solution, it will all be off-chain. Bakkt will buy a whole bunch of Bitcoin and store it in its secure vaults – much like how gold is stored. All transactions of Bitcoin through Bakkt will then go through Bakkt’s centralized clearing house and the ownership of the Bitcoin in its vaults will be adjusted. This will enable Starbucks to accept quick and low-cost transactions of Bitcoin from its customers while Bakkt builds up its Bitcoin stores.
Bakkt is certainly going to make the institutional Bitcoin space very interesting and it could be the catalyst that crypto markets need to finally see some green. However, Starbucks is yet to officially confirm the news, but if it does then we could see crypto markets going wild for Bitcoin once again.
