So, why is this a big deal?
Well, one of the early investors in BAAKT is none other than Starbucks. Additionally, BAKKT Trust Company has already announced “it is focused on the development of consumer applications for digital assets and will test one such app with its first launch partner, Starbucks Corp, in the first half of this year.”
That means you will be able to buy Starbucks coffee and pastries with bitcoin and Starbucks (or other merchants) will be able to hedge those transactions on a daily basis via the BAKKT’s daily futures.
“Bakkt’s approach to secure technology, privacy and innovation means that we are an advocate for consumers who have yet to enter the digital asset space, and for merchants who want to accept new, efficient forms of payments without increasing risks,” Mike Blandina, chief product officer at Bakkt, said on the company’s blog.
Enter the potential acquisition of eBay. Consider the potential price of bitcoin should all of eBay’s merchants have started accepting the digital token for transactions.
Rather than try to create their own digital currency, such as Facebook’s Libra, with all the accompanying global regulatory issues, bitcoin immediately becomes the digital currency of choice. In conjunction with a fully regulated global exchange operator, this could have been the “missing piece” of bitcoin’s global payment acceptance.
Coincidentally, ICE announced today the acquisition of loyalty awards company Bridge2 Solutions.
“This will accelerate the second phase of our digital asset strategy,” said ICE in its announcement of the acquisition.
What did the ICE management team really have in mind? No one really knows for sure.
But using ICE’s crypto-exchange subsidiary, BAKKT, and its daily physically settled bitcoin futures to allow eBay’s vast store of merchants to settle transactions using bitcoin could have been the big story.