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1/ Lil thread on the scoop from @TheBlock_ yesterday that Starbucks received equity in @Bakkt in exchange for a commitment to allow Bitcoin payments in store by 2019.
TL;DR: Could be great in terms of exposure/legitimacy; but may have downsides if it shifts the narrative.👇
TL;DR: Could be great in terms of exposure/legitimacy; but may have downsides if it shifts the narrative.👇
2/ First, the background. @mdudas summarized the news but, basically, in exchange for equity, at some pt Starbucks customers will be able to pay using Bakkt’s software which will automatically convert their crypto into fiat before it hits 'Bucks books.
3/ Alec points out the upside: mass exposure to a huge customer base (who are also the biggest US mobile payments network) and, as importantly, legitimacy. Even if you’re not using it, it’s availability could shift what you think when you think Bitcoin.
4/ What about the downside? One downside is the fear that this is 2013-2014 all over again, when many merchants dabbled with Bitcoin payments and ultimately no one cared...or even that multi coin complexity could makes that sort of thing worse this go.
5/ I think this is a legit concern, although my guess is that Starbucks will be careful about 1) how widely they roll it out; 2) the quality of the user experience; 3) the framing and contextualization which doesn’t over promise.
My bigger worry would be about the narrative.
My bigger worry would be about the narrative.
6/ While present from the beginning, over the last year, the narrative of Bitcoin as an alternative store of value, unable to be ceased or debased by centralized monetary regimes, has become much more default.
7/ To me, it’s not that payments don’t matter, but that an overt narrative emphasis on payments as the use case fails to recognize the full potential of Bitcoin as an economic and political force, while also setting up the wrong goal posts to judge its success.
9/ The question then is this:
Can we enjoy the benefits of consumer exposure and legitimacy of something like Bakkt/Starbucks
w/o losing the holding/SoV/censorship resistant free speech money narrative for the much less exciting value proposition around payments tech?
Can we enjoy the benefits of consumer exposure and legitimacy of something like Bakkt/Starbucks
w/o losing the holding/SoV/censorship resistant free speech money narrative for the much less exciting value proposition around payments tech?
10/ I am, despite my better judgement, an optimist, so I think the answer is yes.
I believe the economic and narrative foundations are much stronger (as witnessed by the numbers below) and this could be the right type of partnership. Time will tell.
I believe the economic and narrative foundations are much stronger (as witnessed by the numbers below) and this could be the right type of partnership. Time will tell.
