ICE’s Bakkt Takes On PayPal In A Race to Dominate Crypto Spendings Market

ICE’s Bakkt is all set to take on payments giant PayPal when it comes to promoting crypto use in daily purchases. On Tuesday, when PayPal announced its crypto checkout service for its U.S. customers, Bakkt also announced the launch of the Bakkt App that brings along Bitcoin and other crypto assets on a single platform.

The easy-to-use Bakkt App allows users to spend their Bitcoins as a payment option. Besides, it also allows consumers to get loyalty and rewards points along with digit cards. Interestingly, users can also covert their reward points into fiat or Bitcoins. The basic goal behind launching the Bakkt App is boosting crypto consumer spending at the same time reducing payments costs.

The Bakkt App’s early access program had over half-a-million users participating. However, the App now goes live to use for everyone and is available on the Google Play Store and the App Store. Speaking about the launch, Bakkt’s CEO, Gavin Michael said:

“The average consumer holds a wealth of digital assets – from gift cards to loyalty points to bitcoin – but lacks the tools to adequately track and utilize their value. We’re thrilled to bring the Bakkt App to the public as a step along our journey to expand digital asset access to all.”

Apart from offering a game-changing digital wallet experience, the good thing about the Bakkt App is it is supported by financial giant Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). Thus, it offers a secure and regulated market infrastructure to safely store and transact digital assets from one platform.

Bakkt’s Partnership With Top Retail Brands

Bakkt is pulling important levers when it comes to spreading the use of its Bakkt App. The platform has collaborated with a number of big brands including the likes of Starbucks. Bakkt’s partnership with Starbucks dates back to its early days of formation in 2018. Karl Hebert, Starbucks VP of the global card, commerce and payment said:

“Starbucks is proud to be an innovation partner with Bakkt. Our teams worked closely together as Bakkt sought input in developing a unique and trusted payment experience that enables customers to unlock the value of their digital assets in the form of US dollars. We are excited that customers now have the opportunity to use Bakkt to load their Starbucks Card in the Starbucks app and then use it to pay at Starbucks”.

Bakkt has also collaborated with other big brands like Best Buy, Choice Hotels, Fiserv, GolfNow, which will accept payments via the Bakkt app.

With financial giants like Bakkt and PayPal giving a push to crypto spendings, the liquidity of crypto assets will get a massive boost. We are certainly entering into an era where crypto use will at par with fiat currencies one day.