10/03/2023 Starbucks sold 2,000 NFTs in 20 minutes — coffee not included

Starbucks Odyssey logo over a glitchy, multi-colored background

Image: Starbucksnone

It’s been more than a year since NFT sales peaked — and then collapsed — but that’s not stopping enterprising multi-billion dollar corporations from trying to get in on the action.

Starbucks launched its first paid collection of NFTs today, a group of2,000 digital “stamps,”each priced at $100. Starbucks calls its NFTs “Journey Stamps,” a less technical-sounding term that the uninitiated might use as a way to explain what they just spent money on. And people did buy them —CoinDesk reports that the “stamps” sold out in under 20 minutes.

The coffee company first launched its NFT and Web3 push in December,when it opened up a new membership programcalled Starbucks Odyssey. An extension of the existing Starbucks rewards program that gives customers perks like free drink upgrades, Odyssey promises to deliver new benefits and “immersive coffee experiences that [customers] cannot get anywhere else” as members complete games, quizzes, and make purchases. Rewards might include virtual classes, access to merchandise, or a trip to a Starbucks coffee farm at higher membership tiers. Free coffee, notably, isn’t listed as a possible reward. Purchasing an NFT gives members additional “points” that they can use to level up their tier.

Dozens of big brands have wrung the NFT towel dry over the past couple years. A non-exhaustive list:Taco Bell,Nike,Adidas,Paramount,GameStop, a bunch of celebrities viaa revamped LimeWire,the NBA,CNN, and the list goes on. What’s particularly odd about the Starbucks NFTs is that they’re coming so late, though the most devout Starbucks and crypto fans did scoop them up. According to Nifty Gateway 1,164 people own an NFT from the new collection.

As a casual Starbucks drinker, seeing a new membership program made me think of one thing: how my Starbucks “stars” areworth less nowunder the updated rewards program that the company announced earlier this year. You could call it shrink-flation for theoriginalvirtual coffee tokens. And when times are tough for rewards programs, I suppose selling off a slew of new digital tokens makes sense — especially when there are people who’ll buy them.

Arts

https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/9/23633169/starbucks-nfts-odyssey-siren-collection-rewards-program

Interesting NFTs
My Other Half | Inspired by Minecraft: The Last Minecart (2011)
Almost every year, we capture ourselves in a way that no photo or video is capable of: with a photoscan. If you dig through our archives, you'll find many of them and can see exactly how we change over time. Sam Gorski, Creator | I wanted to find the oldest scan of myself and put him side-by-side with Sam from the present. While it is hard to look at it and not miss the years past, at the same time, this gives me hope for the future by embracing and cherishing the change in my life. How would I have gotten this far without him? About This Piece | Sam on the left was captured in 2014, while Sam on the right was captured last week (2021). This work represents the personal, creative, and emotional journey in all of us, and the hope that ourselves tomorrow may be better than ourselves today.
Sandalwood Amur
Heyo! My name's Sandalwood Amur. I once peed on Cleopatra's cat. They had it coming. I like to listen to Gloria Estefan while grooming. Don't judge me. In time you'll learn how purrfect I am.
Wink
The eye of providence blinks. Originally posted to tumblr June 26, 2012.
Fidenza #870
Fidenza is by far my most versatile algorithm to date. Although the program stays focused on structured curves and blocks, the varieties of scale, organization, texture, and color usage it can employ create a wide array of generative possibilities. Additional project feature(s) => Scale:Medium, Turbulence:High, Colors:Luxe, Have Margin:Yes, Spiral:No, Soft Shapes:Yes, Super Blocks:No, Collision Check:No Overlap, Outlined:No, Shape Angles:Curved, Density:Medium
#56587
By OthersideDeployer