By the end of 2022 Starbucks will launch an NFT platform using Polygon and will give away and sell NFT stamps to customers and employees that can unlock perks like exclusive merch, private events, and trips.

Starbucks recently announced that it is planning to offer customers NFT rewards through Polygon, an Ethereum scaling network. The NFTs will unlock access to offline rewards like merchandise and events.

Later this year Starbucks is launching The Odyssey program that will let customers and employees in the US earn digital stamps as rewards, as well as purchase and trade limited edition stamps. Each stamp will be minted as an NFT.

The Odyssey experience is an extension of the existing Starbucks Rewards program, but this time customers will be completing challenges and playing interactive games through the app to earn NFT stamps. The limited edition NFT stamps will be sold by the company and can be purchased with credit cards — cryptocurrency won’t be required. The Odyssey app will also feature a secondary marketplace to buy and sell stamps as owners please. The rewards for the stamps will range from virtual drink-mixing classes to exclusive merchandise, access to private events, or a trip to Starbucks’ Costa Rican coffee farm.

The Starbucks Odyssey platform will be powered by the NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway. It is known for NFT collections from artists like Beeple and musician The Weeknd.

Starbucks has been teasing the Web3 initiative announcement for months now, and even drew criticism from the employees about the ecological impact of some NFT platforms. Polygon, as a proof-of-stake network that doesn’t use crypto mining, is quite energy efficient. However, after Ethereum network underwent an eco-friendly upgrade The Merge, Polygon may have become a comparatively less efficient option.

It has become quite widespread for big brands to go into NFTs and metaverse. Hermes, Sony Music Entertainment, Jack Daniel’s, Absolut Vodka, Tiger Beer, Heineken and some others have recently files related trademarks. However, Starbucks case seems different because they are incorporating NFTs into their loyalty program. Let’s see what happens when it launches, we continue to observe.

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