Starbucks announced that it will launch Starbucks Odyssey, an NFT-based rewards program and marketplace. Rewards members can buy and sell NFTs to each other and gain access to exclusive rewards, like virtual classes and trips to coffee plantations.

Why should we care?
Starbucks framed this new development in relation to its longstanding role in “taking leading-edge technology, innovating, and making it accessible and approachable for mainstream audiences.” Its mobile payment and ordering systems, WiFi in stores, and Starbucks Rewards loyalty program have all leveraged modern technologies to attract and retain customers. “This is just the beginning; Starbucks Odyssey is one of the ways we are reinventing the Third Place to meet our customers wherever they are – in a Starbucks store, on-the-go, or online. We are creating an accessible, digital Third Place community enabled by Web3 technology where Starbucks Rewards members and our partners can connect through unique experiences and come together around the love for coffee,” said Brady Brewer, Starbucks Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. But online, Starbucks fans are struggling to make sense of the move. On the one hand, Starbucks seems late to the party, as appetite for NFTs has waned during this most recent crypto winter. And on the other, the program seems like a transparent move to monetize whatever crypto-related demand does exist, since Starbucks can monetize the NFTs it’s minted both through customers’ purchases of these NFTs as well as their resale through transaction fees. Starbucks is soft-launching Odyssey with a waitlist; depending on how that beta test goes, we might expect Odyssey to quietly disappear.