On March 4, The Block reported that Starbucks has a “significant stake” in Bakkt, an upcoming crypto asset trading platform. At the same time, Starbucks will install Bakkts payment software in its stores, and customers can convert cryptocurrencies into legal currency for payment. At first, only Starbucks customers in the United States can enjoy this service. The number of shares Starbucks holds in Bakkt is currently confidential, the sources said. However, Starbucks has a relatively high stake in Bakkt, although Starbucks has not made any cash investment in Bakkt so far.
On March 4, The Block reported that Starbucks has a “significant stake” in Bakkt, an upcoming crypto asset trading platform. At the same time, Starbucks will install Bakkts payment software in its stores, and customers can convert cryptocurrencies into legal currency for payment. At first, only Starbucks customers in the United States can enjoy this service. The number of shares Starbucks holds in Bakkt is currently confidential, the sources said. However, Starbucks has a relatively high stake in Bakkt, although Starbucks has not made any cash investment in Bakkt so far.
At that time, Starbucks did not announce the details of how customers would pay Bitcoin through Bakkt. Until today, this matter has made further progress. Customers can realize Bitcoin payment through the Bakkt payment software installed by Starbucks in its stores.
secondary title
Bakkt has a strong background and is known as the regular army
According to industry insiders, the cooperation between Bakkt and Starbucks is the key to the success of Bitcoin. According to incomplete statistics from Odaily, there are about 14,606 Starbucks stores around the world. As of now, there are more than 500 people in these stores every day. However, according to a report by Trefis (a market analysis company in the United States), this number will grow to more than 750 in 2020. Starbucks processes up to 25.6 million mobile payment transactions every day. In comparison, Apple Pay and Google are slightly underwhelming, processing 24.5 million and 12.4 million sales per day, respectively. Why did you choose and work with Bakkt?
Bakkt is a digital currency platform built by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). On December 31, 2018, Bakkt confirmed through Twitter that it had completed its first round of financing of US$182.5 million.
According to Bakkt’s official blog, there are 12 investors participating in the first round of financing, including Boston Consulting Group, CMT Digital, Eagle Seven, Galaxy Digital, Goldfinch Partners, Alan Howard, Horizons Ventures (Harbor Investments), Intercontinental Exchange, M12 ( Microsofts venture capital fund), Pantera Capital, PayU, Protocol Ventures.
The reason why it has received the support of so many big-name companies is, in the final analysis, the strong backing of ICE. It is the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, and it can be said to be very strong. Every year, financial giants such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley use ICE to trade data. Billion-dollar commodities such as gold and soybeans are traded on the same structure used to trade bitcoin.
Among the investors of Bakkt, Horizons Investment is a subsidiary of Li Ka-shing. It mainly invests in technology start-ups. Among them, it pays the most attention to the big data application industry and the artificial intelligence industry. Geographically, it focuses on exploring innovative companies in Silicon Valley of the United States and Israel.
secondary title
Repeatedly been delayed
In fact, from the perspective of Bakkt, what they want to do is a comprehensive cryptocurrency platform, but due to the existing regulatory system, this goal may be difficult to achieve immediately, so they chose the first step to launch Bitcoin futures, because American commodities The Futures Commission CFTC is relatively more friendly to cryptocurrencies, and now Bitcoin futures have also been launched on the Chicago Stock Exchange.
But Bakkt is different from other bitcoin futures, it is directly settled in bitcoin, not US dollars. In other words, in the previous futures trading, you were buying bitcoin futures with US dollars, but now you are buying bitcoin futures with bitcoin.
This approach is very conducive to encouraging everyone to hold Bitcoin, making Bitcoin more popular, and laying the foundation for more funds to enter and digital currency to become a mature currency in the future.
Secondly, after all, Bakkt is backed by a big tree to enjoy the shade. It has the endorsement of ICE and the New York Stock Exchange. Once it is approved to go online, it will attract a large amount of traditional financial capital to enter the market. The Bakkt platform will allow institutions to buy and sell actual bitcoins, providing oversight for bitcoin. According to foreign media reports, Goldman Sachs may adopt the Bakkt cryptocurrency custody solution, which also shows the recognition of Bakkt by large institutions.
secondary title
Bakkt good things coming soon?
According to reports, Bakkt’s launch date has been pushed back multiple times. The platform was initially expected to launch in November 2018, but was pushed back to January 24, 2019. Now, ICE has announced again that it will launch the digital asset platform later this year. The main reason for Bakkt’s delayed launch is that it is still awaiting approval from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
People in the industry speculate that now that it is approaching mid-March, Starbucks chose to release the news that it will cooperate with Bakkt and install Bakkt’s payment software in its stores at this time. It may be to gain momentum for the final approval of the CFTC, and some people speculate Choosing to release this news when the final approval is about to be carried out may also imply that Bakkt is approaching good things and is expected to pass the final approval of the CFTC.
Reference article:Li Ka-shing invested in Bakkt, implying the arrival of a Bitcoin bull market?
