Starbucks will not accept bitcoin as payment despite new crypto venture

Starbucks has said that it will not be accepting Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies as payment, despite its plans to create a new “global platform and ecosystem for digital assets”.

The new venture by the company, dubbed Bakkt, will include a number of big name enterprises including BCG and Microsoft.

A spokesperson for the international coffee chain clarified in a statement that “customers will not be able to pay for Frappuccinos with bitcoin,” but the venture will “convert digital assets like Bitcoin into US dollars, which can be used at Starbucks.”

Bakkt will be to make Bitcoin a sound and secure offering for key constituents with the goal being clear the way for major money managers to offer Bitcoin mutual funds, pension funds, and ETFs, as highly regulated, mainstream investments.

The next step after that could be using Bitcoin to replace your credit card.

Starbucks’ official press release stated that it would, pending regulation, include physically delivered Bitcoin futures: “As an initial component of the Bakkt offering, Intercontinental Exchange’s U.S.-based futures exchange and clearing house plan to launch a one day physically delivered Bitcoin contract along with physical warehousing in November 2018, subject to CFTC review and approval.”