Bakkt has announced the launch of the Bakkt digital wallet. The digital wallet is bound to unlock the monetary value of unused Bitcoin, loyalty and rewards points, gift cards, and all the other digital assets whose value is estimated to be over $1.2 trillion.
Bakkt had announced the plans to develop this app in 2019 and launch it by mid-2020. However, Bakkt did not meet these timelines, owing to the raging Coronavirus pandemic. Bakkt serves the travel and hotel industries, the hardest hit by the pandemic.
Before its launch, the Bakkt app had 500,000 users who received invitation-only early access. These users participated in its beta program before the rollout of the app to the general public.
Bakkt app can now be downloaded from the app store or google play store.
Bakkt’s Partners
Bakkt is partnering with top brands such as Starbucks, Best Buy, Choice Hotels, and Fiserv to reclaim the value of digital assets. 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.”
Bakkt and Starbucks Partnership
Starbucks customers can use Bakkt’s digital wallet to reload their Starbucks Card via the Starbucks app for iOS. Also, Starbucks customers will use the Bakkt app to convert their digital assets into USD, thanks to the Bakkt and Starbucks partnership. The inferred digital assets are loyalty points, frequent flyer miles, bitcoin, and gift cards.
GolfNow and Bakkt Partnership
Bakkt digital wallet will allow over 3.5 million GolfNow customers to check out using their digital assets.
Choice Hotels and Bakkt Partnership
Choice Hotels members can now utilize their choice privileges rewards via the Bakkt app.
Fiserv and Bakkt Partnership
Bakkt app will enable Fiserv members to change their uChoose Rewards points to USD.
Best Buy and Bakkt Partnership
The collaboration between Bakkt and Best Buy will see Bakkt users given exclusive deals. Bakkt users will use their Bakkt Visa Debit card to purchase these exclusive deals.
Bitcoin in Bakkt Digital Wallet
Converting points to Bitcoin in Bakkt will create a conglomerate of digital assets that are interdependent. Thus, it will become easier to measure digital assets’ worth.
The Bakkt team is highly optimistic about the future of the Bakkt digital wallet. For instance, Bakkt has projected an 18 million user base by 2022.
