Does Starbucks plan to launch the ICO with its own digital currency?

The executive director of the international fast-food chain Starbucks, Howard Schultz, surprised several colleagues when he raised the issue of cryptocurrencies during a conference call, discussing the company's last quarterly profits. The former CEO told the audience that, in his opinion, the publicly received cryptocurrency will come in the next few years, says the CCN edition. Schulz also doubted that Bitcoin would become one of such currencies, saying: "I do not believe that Bitcoin will become a currency today or in the future." Schultz joins a group of well-known Bitcoin skeptics, such as the legendary investor Warren Buffett, Nobel Laureate in Economics Robert Shiller and JP Morgan Chase executive Jamie Dimon, who went so far, calling Bitcoin a "fraud", although later he apologized for such comments.

However, unlike many of these skeptics, criticism of Bitcoin by Schultz, overall, was based on its usefulness, as a real actual currency. Regardless of its opinion on cryptocurrencies in general, this is not a particularly contradictory point of view. Extreme volatility in the prices of Bitcoin and most other digital tokens significantly limited their usefulness for simple daily consumer transactions, such as buying gas, groceries or cups of coffee.

So, is not this all a prerequisite to the fact that Starbucks is preparing for a deep-sea swimming in the world of cryptocurrency? Unfortunately, for enthusiasts of blockchain, the answer will be negative. During the conversation, Schultz quickly clarified this, saying:

"I did not say that Starbucks announces that we are creating a digital currency or we are investing in it."

Instead of signaling their desire for internal investments in the blockchain, the comments were aimed to shed light on future strategies for digital payments of the company. Starbucks has already experienced the rapid growth of its mobile service Mobile Order and Pay, and current CEO Kevin Johnson said that the company recently tested the decision to accept non-cash payments in one of its offices in the center of Seattle.

Schulz stressed that Starbucks does not plan to launch its own digital currency, guided by the example of the companies Kodak and Burger King Russia, who did it.

He is confident that the blockchain will play an important role in this strategy in the future, as evidenced by his further comments at the conference:

... we are moving into a new era where the technology of blockchain is directed to provide a level of digital currency that should have a consumer application. And I believe that Starbucks is in a unique position to take advantage of this ... We believe that we have something to offer to companies that are striving for this, because we are able to create an environment in which it can be accepted and that will to enjoy legitimate trust and, possibly, in addition, the advantages of the mobile payment platform that we have created will be accepted.

Given the strength of the Starbucks brand and the leading role that they played in the growth of consumer perception of digital payments for daily purchases, any blockchain currency that will receive their full support will have a huge advantage over competing tokens.