SEATTLE—It’s hard to buy coffee with Bitcoin, but Starbucks Corp. may be poised to make that easier.
The beverage retailer is teaming up with one of the world’s biggest exchange operators, Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE), which just created a venture called Bakkt designed to more tightly integrate digital currencies into global commerce, Bloomberg reported.
“Despite Bitcoin’s astronomical surge last year, it’s still not widely used to buy and sell actual goods in most countries. Many startups have sought to take cryptocurrencies mainstream by developing exchanges or payment solutions for merchants, but few have had success connecting all of the necessary players. ICE wants to help change that,” Bloomberg said.
“Bakkt is designed to serve as a scalable on-ramp for institutional, merchant and consumer participation in digital assets by promoting greater efficiency, security and utility,” Kelly Loeffler, chief executive officer of Bakkt, told the publication. “We are collaborating to build an open platform that helps unlock the transformative potential of digital assets across global markets and commerce.”
ICE said Starbucks and Microsoft Corp. were joining the effort to help consumers and institutions “buy, sell, store and spend digital assets.” The companies didn’t provide a timetable, Bloomberg said.