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Starbucks Going Digital Bucks a ‘Very Big Deal’ for Crypto, Says Tom Lee

Danny Scopelliti | Aug 04, 2018 | 04:00

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Tom Lee remarks on a new ‘roadmap’ that has been unveiled, encouraging institutions to back crypto groundwork.

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), “a leading operator of global exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), clearinghouses, data and listings services,” announced its new platform Bakkt Friday.

Intercontinental Exchange hopes to collaborate with a suite of companies like Starbucks and BCG, whilst using cloud technology from Microsoft in order “[…]to create an open and regulated, global ecosystem for digital assets:

The Bakkt ecosystem is expected to include federally regulated markets and warehousing along with merchant and consumer applications. Its first use cases will be for trading and conversion of Bitcoin versus fiat currencies, as Bitcoin is today the most liquid digital currency.

All of these elements are geared towards an effort that seeks “to create an integrated platform that enables consumers and institutions to buy, sell, store and spend digital assets on a seamless global network.”

Regarding the matter, Thomas Lee enthusiastically remarked the following on Twitter:

Very big deal… and supports a roadmap that shows major institutions are creating supporting infrastructure for crypto @ICE_Markets @Starbucks @Microsoft #bitcoin https://t.co/oZsHtzRitA

— Thomas Lee (@fundstrat) August 3, 2018

On the other hand, Howard Schultz, founder and CEO of Starbucks, remains skeptical of Bitcoin as a trusted currency of the near-future:

“And the reason I mentioned this is not because I’m talking about bitcoin because I don’t believe that bitcoin is going to be a currency today or in the future[…] I’m talking about the new technology of blockchain and the possibility of what could happen not in the near terms, but in a few years from now.”

Two Worlds Collide

As digital technology applications evolve in tandem with regulatory measures, Bakkt is hopeful that:

“by leveraging trusted market infrastructure, Bakkt is being engineered to help the digital asset markets evolve securely and efficiently while supporting transaction flows.

By bringing these two worlds into dialogue, founder and CEO of ICE Jeffery Sprecher hopes to spread an aura of confidence within previously untapped markets. Within the next few weeks, more information on the launch of Bakkt will be available via Bakkt.com.

Breaching New Markets

Business Wire notes that Intercontinental Exchange

[…]is a Fortune 500 and Fortune Future 50 company formed in the year 2000 to modernize markets. ICE serves customers by operating the exchanges, clearing houses and information services they rely upon to invest, trade and manage risk across global financial and commodity markets.

To the extent that ICE serves as a self-described “on-ramp” for the integrated safety and reliability of digital assets, Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffer remarks that the Bakkt team is “collaborating to build an open platform that helps unlock the transformative potential of digital assets across global markets and commerce.”

A Deep History

As far as reliability and integrity stretch, ICE is a global powerhouse with a rich history in the financial sector. Business Wire is keen to point out that “ICE is the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, which has helped companies raise more capital than any other exchange in the world, driving economic growth and transforming markets.”

An organization with a financial lineage such as ICE can only excite those who remain optimistic about new digital asset technologies.

What are your thoughts about the newly announced Bakkt application? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock