Howard Shultz chairman of Starbucks, the most popular coffeehouse chain in America, worth more than 82B USD recently stated that the company is looking into incorporating cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology in it's payment technology system.
Shultz is a visionary and a great business, follows worldwide trends and knows how the consumers think and how to leverage that knowledge to increase revenue. He proved that with the huge success of implementing a mobile payment app back in 2015 that allowed customers to pay and order their drinks reducing the hassle of waiting in lines to pay/order a drink. Not only did it improve overall customer experience but it also offered a reward in form of "stars" points for rewarding customers for using the app. Needless to say, the app proved to be a massive success amongst Starbucks customers.
Knowing that, it comes as no surprise that Shultz is planning to add cryptocurrencies payments saying:
We think we have something to offer the companies that are chasing this because we are in a position to create the trusted legitimate place in which this could be accepted and possibly take advantage of the mobile payment digital platform that we have created.
He also added that:
It was necessary for major businesses to adapt their strategies.
It's obvious he sees great potential in cryptocurrencies and sees them as they are (future of payments) and want's to be amongst the first to add crypto payments as he sees the potential benefits they have. Not only to Starbucks, but to customers that get a real world/everyday use for their coins further adding to the worldwide acceptance of cryptocurrency payments and coins in general.
"I believe that we are heading into a new age, in which blockchain technology is going to provide a significant level of a digital currency that is going to have a consumer application."
Shultz said, and added that Starbucks wants to take advantage of the changes.
What cryptocurrency will Starbucks accept hasn't been decided yet but it's not going to be Bitcoin
Obviously, all the problems that go with Bitcoin today makes it unlikely to be used as a payment, as it would cost much more to mone the coins than the actual coffee you are paying for. BTC fees are going as high as 50$, Shultz knows that and he said that Bitcoin is not going to be an option.
What cryptocurrency will be used is still unknown
There are many options to be considered and the decision hasn't yet been made.
IMO Starbucks should consider Steem and SMTs as an option
With lightning fast and no fees transactions Steem or SMTs would be a perfect solution for Starbucks as it:
Can be easily implemented in the current app
Offers it's own token "Star" that can gain value independently of the cryptocurrency market
Customers could get Stars token rewarded to them and earned, further adding to the growth of the company if used in the right way
Starbucks could also make a Steemit account so that customers using Steemit could easily send STEEM/SBD to pay for their drinks
Imagine what effect would it have on Steemit if we actually got Starbucks to add Steem/SBD payments and implementing their own coin in form of a SMT!!
Not sure though, how we would get to Shultz or anyone high enough in Starbucks but,
@ned I hope you see this and take action :)
Or if you can get to @ned or anyone else that's influential enough to be able to talk to the heads of Starbucks.
Take action and do everything you can to get this message out. Write posts on Steemit about it, spam Starbucks emails, call them, and do whatever you can. Maybe they eventually get tired of it, decide to take a look into SMTs and actually decide to take action and implement it. That would be huge for Steemit!
That would be pretty amazing . . . I think.
One thing I struggle to understand though, with crypto in the mainstream, is how would that work when there's such huge volatility? Doesn't it mean that one day my coffee might be $2 and the next $12?
I'm new to crypto so this might not be the right question to ask but I'm sure it's a common one for those of us new to this. (Don't know what SMT is either but I'm learning more each day 😊)
I know, I still have a hard time with that one. Yes it does mean exactly that as your money is tied to the desired coin's price movements.
SMTs are steemit's smart media tokens, intelligent tokens allowing anyone to implement Steem's monetary system in their online bussines or aplication.
This is some HUGE NEWS !!! Soon the whole world will pay and accet crypto and then we can kick away the government and their taxes !!
Would be LTC for sure !!!
You should give this idea to them. Its amazing. Someone really needs to contact @ned !!! Soon many companies will be on steemit I believe. SMTs were to launch in January. I wonder why are they taking time. I hope it happens quick.
Let us all mail STARBUCKS !!!
Great to see companies accepting the change today. It would be wise for him to choose steem, i mean just as you have stated the benefits, there are far more benefits to that. Imagine me buying a cup of coffee and using steem as payment and after transaction done i get an option to post my coffee experience with starbucks on steemit. That's an added advantage to marketing their product.
STEEM TO THE MOON
Will really be lovely to incorporate steem .. Atleast for those of that know abput it and intending users..
This would be amazing news!! Lets hope indeed - thanks for the info @runicar
This would be nice... If not for anything atleast safeguard people from street thefts
I'm glad that Shultz looks to the future. I think that Starbucks accepting cryptos will help our platform grow and really become even more useful than it already is.
This is great news. Cryptocurrency taking over the world and turning everywhere up side down
I am sure going to make a post on steemit about this real soon. The word needs to be let out and Starbucks has to know about the potential steem wields in the crypto world.
Honestly ,having steem used by Starbucks would be a banger.
amazing
This would be a great achievement for steem if it can be accomplished.
I just hope the right person sees this post and take necessary actions.
Thanks for sharing.
This is just beginning and I’m honestly surprised Starbucks would be the first, I really thought another tech company would be. Either way, if I could pay for my coffee fix in steem that would be great motivation:)
Not to mention the PERFECT marketing angle of the "steem" which rises out of coffee (and the various other hot drinks which Starbucks serves). It's the perfect branding fit...
Cryptocurrancy woud be a biggest game changer in economic world and this is just a begening. Keep updating by your writing, thanks for sharing!
If Starbucks started accepting Crypto, it would be so huge for the space! I could think of very few other retailers with the global presence and sheer number of consumers I'd rather have than Starbucks on our side! There are few better companies to help Crypto go mainstream!!!
But for sometime now ...bitcoin has been up and down.....
And i was thinking if steem and sbd is accepted how will it benefit us as nigerians .......this post cleared my thought BRING STARBUCKS TO NIGERIA,,,,PLEASE ACCEPT SBD AND STEEM ....
If eventually they accept sbd and steem as payment exchange in their app will it boost the price of steem and sbd???My question @runicar
That's a great place to accept crypto as people can then talk about it while enjoying coffee. We can pay for our friends and then introduce them about crypto that would help a lot
I'm going to guess that Starbucks will use crypto as a loyalty token as a business needs fiat to pay it's bills. I was going to be an ambassador for a crypto that would allow my customers to pay with whatever crypto they wanted. It will work as long as the transaction can seamlessly move crypto to fiat. There are several platforms ready to provide this, but not quite yet that I know of. I too hope that ned gets to the frontlines of this revolutionary move of Starbucks.