18/03/2024 Web3 Watch: Starbucks shutters its ‘Odyssey’ NFT program
Major coffee retailer Starbucks said on Friday afternoon it will be ending its NFT-enabled customer loyalty program, dubbed Odyssey.
The program will close on the last day of March. “The Starbucks Odyssey Beta must come to an end to prepare for what comes next as we continue to evolve the program,” Starbuckssaidin an update to the program’s FAQ page.
TheNFTscustomers could earn through Odyssey, called Stamps, will be transferred to the NFT platform Nifty Gateway, where they can continue to be bought and sold, Starbucks added.
It’s the latest in a growing trend of non-crypto companies sunsetting NFT programs they started up a couple years ago. Video game venue GameStopshut down its NFT marketplacein January, citing regulatory concerns. Also that month, social media platform X discontinued support for NFT profile pictures. X competitorMeta wound downits own NFT program earlier in 2023.
Starbucks Odyssey launched via a partnership withPolygonin September 2022.
Memecoin mania spawns Las Vegas Sphere ad, Franklin Templeton research
Crypto made much ado about memecoins this week as the familiar trope of overnight millionairesre-emerged.
The memecoin of the moment, dogwifhat, surged over 30% on the week. Supporters of the Solana-based tokenraisednearly $700,000 to put an advertisement on the Las Vegas Sphere.
The purported owners of the hat-wearing dog put an NFT of the image up forauction, and it was bid up to 30 ether (ETH) by Friday afternoon, worth roughly $113,000 at current prices.
Many of the new crop of memecoins, including dogwifhat and a slew of intentionally-misspelled politicians, live on theSolanablockchain. Solana (SOL) itselfjumped22% on the week, according to CoinGecko.
Amid the excitement, the digital asset arm of major investment firm Franklin Templetonpublished a paper on X titled “The Value Between Meme Coins and Their Native Networks.” The paper pointed out that the price appreciation of the Solana memecoin, BONK, and of Solana itself, happened at the same time.
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