Starbucks’ Howard Schultz talked about cryptocurrencies during the company’s most recent earnings conference call.
Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency, is the first totally decentralized digital-payment system in the world. It operates without a central bank and with no single administrator.
“I don’t believe that bitcoin is going to be a currency today or in the future,” said the coffee chain’s executive chairman.
However, he does see potential in blockchain technology and does believe that there will be a few “legitimate” and “trusted” digital currencies – although bitcoin is not one of them though.
“I personally believe that there is going to be one or a few legitimate, trusted digital currencies off of the blockchain technology,” Schultz said.
Bitcoin and other cryptos will have to be legitimized
These types of currencies “will have to be legitimatized by a brand in a brick-and-mortar environment, where the consumer has trust and confidence in the company that is providing the transaction,” he added.
According to Yahoo Finance, Schultz said:
“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. And I believe that Starbucks is in a unique position to take advantage of that,”
“Now, I don’t want anyone to hang up on this call and assume that we have this all figured out because we don’t. Or that we’re making a significant investment in this, because we’re not.”
“There’s going to be a lot of winners, a lot of losers,” Schultz added. “But we are in a very unique position to take advantage of what other tech companies and the blockchain technology will provide in terms of the rails to potentially be in the mix of this and benefit financially, benefit in terms of consumer behavior and incrementality and significantly create long-term shareholder value.”
Video – Cryptocurrency
We all read and hear news about cryptocurrencies on TV, newspapers, and other media. However, very few of us fully understand what they are and how they differ from euros, dollars, pounds, and other traditional currencies. This Market Business News video explains using simple terms and examples.