Financial investment platform Bakkt is working on its own consumer payment app, which should be released in 2020. According to president Adam White the payment app supports digital assets in the broadest sense, and could therefore embrace bitcoin, non-fungible tokens and loyalty points. White told this at a panel organized by The Block.
The Bakkt consumer payment app supposedly also includes equity trading, a portal for merchants and a wide array of others financial assets. This would make the app more like Paypal, as it has far more utility than a mere crypto payment app like Flexa does.
Until now Bakkt has mainly been busy with institutional products, like the Bitcoin futures and options for institutional traders. However, they take their consumer product very serious. Their first major partner for the introduction of the app is Starbucks.
Using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can disrupt the credit card industry. Transaction costs of cryptocurrencies are much lower compared with the costs involved in credit card transactions. On average retailers pay fees of 1.95 to 2 percent to Visa and Mastercard. This number even goes up when doing online shopping. Bitcoin transaction fees are usually just a few cents. There have been transactions of millions or even billions of dollars that cost less than a dollar.
The more people start using bitcoin, the slower the network will become. That’s why the Lightning Foundation is adding an extra layer to the Bitcoin blockchain. This Lightning Network is currently in a testing phase. It allows for super fast transaction with none or very minimal cost. The only downside of the current network is that it’s only suitable for small payments, like buying a cup of coffee.
