This week has seen the announcement of Bakkt, a new crypto-venture which sees the involvement of a large number of popular, mainstream brands, including Microsoft and Starbucks. This of course had initiated rumours that Starbucks would use this as an opportunity to start accepting Bitcoin payments at some of their 27,000 + outlets, worldwide.

It’s a story we covered just two days back, you can see the full story for yourself,

here

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“Bakkt is the brainchild of a number of firms including Microsoft, Starbucks, the Intercontinental Exchange and the Boston Consulting Group. Bakkt, aims to explore blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies by utilising the Microsoft Cloud to develop an open, but regulated digital asset, that in the future could be used at stores like Starbucks.”

Moreover:

“Starbucks, are obviously in this to allow Bakkt to reach a mainstream crowd. As a stereotype, the Starbucks customer tends to be young, a bit trendy and often tech savvy. Starbucks offer a quick and easy to consume product for a low price, that is recognisable worldwide, therefore Starbucks offer Bakkt a huge customer demographic, off the back of an international brand with a community of people who may be likely to have a knowledge in cryptocurrency already.”

Since this, Starbucks have made a proper announcement to help debunk the rumour, therefore we can now confirm that Starbucks will not be accepting Bitcoin payments in any of their 27,000 + stores. Instead, they have confirmed that Bakkt will use an exchange system that will instead, allow users to convert Bitcoin into US Dollars which can be used in their stores.

But wait, isn’t this what most exchanges already do anyway, you can already use Bitcoin exchanged for USD in Starbucks stores?

Seriously, this is their big announcement, according to a press release in The Paypers:

“Starbucks corrected the record, as the retailer is not accepting digital assets at Starbucks. Rather the exchange [Bakkt] will convert digital assets like Bitcoin into US dollars, which can be used at Starbucks.”

See the full press release for yourself,

here

.

Honestly, we aren’t really sure what this means. We can only guess that within the Bakkt exchange, customers will have access to better deals in Starbucks, if they trade their Bitcoin for USD. Perhaps they will have access to exclusive offers, or will be able to get a slightly better price for their Bitcoin, if they designate their funds to a Starbucks gift card or something for example?

This is ongoing, it’s going to be interesting to see what materialises from this project in the end. For now though, we know that at the very least,