Starbucks launches NFT-powered rewards, leveraging loyal sippers to enter web3

Enter the Mocha-verse… Cold brew’s coming to the blockchain. Yesterday Starbucks introduced a loyalty program powered by non-fungible tokens called “Starbucks Odyssey.” Odyssey will be powered by Polygon, a proof-of-stake "sidechain" that aims to make ethereum transactions cheaper and faster. Polygon’s native token, matic, jumped 5% on the Starbs news.

• A journey: Odyssey will extend Starbs’ popular rewards program, enabling latte lovers to earn NFTs (called “stamps”) by completing “journeys.” Think: java-inspired games.
• Peppier perks: Users can redeem stamps for exclusive experiences like virtual espresso-martini-making classes and trips to Costa Rican coffee farms.
• Brewing up community: Odyssey users can also buy and sell limited-edition stamps.

Spill the NFTea… Last year NFT sales boomed with high crypto prices. But since then the NFT industry has struggled:

• Trading volume on top NFT marketplace OpenSea has plunged 99% from its May peak. An NFT of Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s first-ever tweet recently got a top bid of $280 (not a typo) — after selling for $2.9M last year.
• Getting practical: As sales have slumped, some companies have rolled out “practical” NFT applications: Ticketmaster uses them to verify tickets and prevent resale scams, and eBay’s embraced them to authenticate its goods.