Starbucks has unveiled a Web3 project mixing loyalty program and NFT. Based on Polygon, “Starbucks Odyssey” will allow its customers to unlock benefits and earn rewards.
Multinational Starbucks, which announced plans to dive into the NFT ecosystem by the end of the year this spring, has lifted the veil on a project using non-fungible token technology.
Dubbed “Starbucks Odyssey,” the initiative will allow Starbucks Rewards customers and members to earn and purchase “collectible digital stamps” in the form of NFTs. These can then be redeemed for greater rewards than those earned through its traditional loyalty program.
The coffee chain doesn’t use the term NFTs but “digital stamps.” “It [the project] happens to be built on blockchain and web3 technologies, but the customer – to be honest – may very well not even know they’re interacting with blockchain technology. It’s just the enabler,” Brady Bewer, CMO of Starbucks, explained on TechCrunch.
When it was announced in the spring, the American firm said it would move toward a green blockchain with a low environmental impact. And Starbucks chose layer2 Polygon, a network that cares a lot about its carbon footprint.
“Building Starbucks Odyssey using technology that aligns with our sustainability aspirations and commitments is a top priority. We took a very thoughtful and thorough approach when evaluating which blockchain to use, and the fast, low-cost, carbon-neutral Polygon network is the perfect foundation for our first digital community,”
Ryan Butz, vice president of marketing at Starbuck’s, shared in a statement released last Monday.
Starbucks Odyssey is expected to launch by the end of the year. Over 24 hours, MATIC, the Polygon network’s native token, is up about 5% to $0.93.