What if Starbucks and Microsoft team up to start accepting crypto? This would eliminate one of the classic complaints about cryptocurrency: not being able to spend it freely at most everyday retailers. For example, you can’t walk into a nearby coffee shop and use bitcoin to buy your morning coffee. Similarly, in most places, you can’t use crypto to pay for your groceries, to get your car fixed at the shop, or to handle any other regular day-to-day expenses. But now, all that could be changing. As Starbucks and Microsoft team up to start accepting crypto, the world of cryptocurrency could be making a big step forward into the retail sector.
Buying Coffee With Crypto
In the very near future, you could be paying for your Starbucks with crypto. In fact, that’s precisely the goal of a new partnership between Starbucks and Microsoft.
The companies, both of which are global giants in their respective fields, are reportedly working on a new company called Bakkt. Starbucks and Microsoft are being joined in the venture by other companies, most notably Intercontinental Exchange and BCG.
As planned, Bakkt will function as a worldwide platform to make it easier for consumers to access and use cryptocurrency. The platform will allow customers to buy and sell crypto. Additionally, Bakkt will also let consumers store crypto.
But perhaps most importantly, Bakkt will make it possible for consumers to use crypto to make purchases at Starbucks.
To make this happen, Bakkt will quickly convert bitcoin and a variety of other cryptocurrencies into real-world U.S. dollars. This rapid exchange will then make it possible to buy products directly at Starbucks stores.
At the moment, Starbucks, Microsoft, and their partners hope to have Bakkt up and running sometime this year. In fact, there is word that the program could go live as soon as November.
Starbucks And Microsoft Team Up To Start Accepting Crypto?
In many ways, Bakkt is a continuation of Starbucks’ focus on giving customers multiple ways of paying for goods. For example, Starbucks’ mobile payment app has proven to be wildly successful.
In fact, recent stats show that the Starbucks payment app has more users than any other big-time mobile payment apps including Samsung Pay, Google Pay, and Apple Pay.
Given the massive coffee chain’s success with digital and mobile payment options, it seems logical to branch out into crypto.
But beyond that, Bakkt could also give cryptocurrency, in general, a big step forward into the mainstream retail market. While there are a growing number of vendors and stores who accept crypto, there still aren’t a whole lot of options when it comes to big-name retailers.
For example, some of the biggest retailers currently accepting bitcoin or other crypto include Overstock.com, Expedia, Dish Network, and Microsoft. Now, the Premier League is accepting bitcoin. But in many cases, these retailers only allow customers to make certain types of purchases with crypto.
Either way, the relatively small number of big-name retailers to accept crypto has been a challenge for many consumers. If things go as planned, Bakkt could dramatically change this by making it possible to use crypto at Starbucks, one of the biggest retailers in the world.
