Coffee giant Starbucks announced Friday that it is shutting down its Starbucks Odyssey Beta platform, which provided NFT-based rewards minted on Ethereum scaling network Polygon.
Starbucks will close the Odyssey Beta platform on March 31, with platform quests available until March 25. The Starbucks Odyssey Discord server will shut down sooner on March 18. There's no clear indication of a planned return for Starbucks' NFT foray.
"The Starbucks Odyssey Beta must come to an end to prepare for what comes next as we continue to evolve the program," an official FAQ reads.
The FAQ continues to note that Starbucks is "working to have a place for members to connect in the future," but makes no suggestion that the platform will return in its current form—or that an "evolved" version will ultimately emerge.
"While the Starbucks Odyssey Beta program is ending, we are excited for you to see what comes next and are grateful for your consistent engagement and feedback," the FAQ also reads. "We are thankful to have had this opportunity to test into these different ways of driving community and loyalty at Starbucks and we look forward to bringing these learnings to a broader audience."
Starbucks Odyssey launched in closed beta in late 2022, with the coffee giant serving as one of the largest examples of a major brand playing in the Web3 world. It's one of several major brands that Polygon brought to its platform around that time.
Billed as an expanded version of its existing Starbucks Rewards program, Starbucks Odyssey offered benefits for users who purchased coffee and other products in stores, as well as for engaging with quizzes and other content on the platform. It then offered various rewards, including NFT stamps, drink-making classes, or even a tour of a Costa Rican coffee farm.
Odyssey has remained in closed beta since launch, with Starbucks occasionally letting in more users and also holding sales for limited edition NFT stamps that could be traded. Free NFT stamps given away to users back in 2022 briefly had a moment of rising demand in early 2023, when some of the NFTs were being flipped for nearly $2,000 on secondary markets.
According to Starbucks, the branded Odyssey marketplace will "transition to the Nifty marketplace," referring to Nifty Gateway, the brand's technical partner on the initiative. And the Polygon-based NFT stamps can be moved outside of the platform, as well as used and traded elsewhere.
Editor's note: This story was updated after publication with additional details.