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Show HN: 10% off at Starbucks when you buy with Bitcoin

coinforcoffee.com

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Re: Show HN: 10% off at Starbucks when you buy with Bitcoin

#22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes we can- and we are. We started with Starbucks for a number of reasons, but I can't wait to get Peets in there. Hell, I'd really love to get some good indie shops- but we've gotta start somewhere.

Great to hear. Thank you! I love how my real question which received and answer from the company was voted down. Sorry but Starbucks is not really good coffee. I am writing this from the Philz in Palo Alto :)

Because you're wrong. Starbucks certainly makes 'good' coffee. Can you make better coffee? Absolutely. I'm enough of a coffee snob that I rarely get coffee while I'm out, preferring to make it at home where I can control all the variables.

That being said... claiming that Starbucks isn't 'good' coffee is just hipster silliness... Yes, I realize it's mainstream now, and your fedora fits in better at Philz, but Starbucks coffee is certainly 'good' enough for millions of people every day, and it seems like an obvious first choice for an application like this.

Re: Show HN: 10% off at Starbucks when you buy with Bitcoin

#24
post #13

Does Starbucks have an API for creating gift cards and transferring balances?

It would be a big opportunity for money laundering, so I doubt it.

Oh please. You cannot "launder money" with Starbucks gift cards unless you use a completely ridiculous definition of the term (which occasionally you find over-enthusiastic regulators doing, but that is no excuse).

Re: Show HN: 10% off at Starbucks when you buy with Bitcoin

#25

10% off in what denomination USD or BTC?

Yes! (Both.) You'll end up spending an amount of BTC that is equivalent to 90% of the cost of your coffee. So, an example: If you choose the $10 option, and $10 is worth 10mBTC (exchange rate made up to simplify the math), then you'd pay 9mBTC and have $10 available to spend at Starbucks. If you then spend $5 of that at Starbucks, you'll end up receiving a refund of 4.5mBTC (the equivalent of the remaining $5).

How is that discount funded though? I mean, who is paying the other 10%?

Re: Show HN: 10% off at Starbucks when you buy with Bitcoin

#27
I'd like to hear a real economist's take on this but from my personal opinion Bitcoin will never take off as a transactional currency because of it's inherently limited nature, and here's the reasons contributing to it:

1. There's a finite amount of them that can ever be mined

2. There's no central governing body control the rate of inflation/deflation through monetary policy.

By definition this creates a deflationary currency. Meaning as a currency it gains value the more goods and services it can be redeemed for, and the more valuable it is the less likely it is that people will redeem it for goods or services.

Meaning if all of a sudden more merchants started accepting bitcoin then bitcoins will appreciate as it's underlying "value" grows, but people will stop spending bitcoin because that coffee you bought for 3 bucks today might be 30 bucks next year. In turn merchants will spend less money building infrastructure for bitcoins since no one uses it.

Does that make any sense?

Re: Show HN: 10% off at Starbucks when you buy with Bitcoin

#30
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be a big opportunity for money laundering, so I doubt it.

Oh please. You cannot "launder money" with Starbucks gift cards unless you use a completely ridiculous definition of the term (which occasionally you find over-enthusiastic regulators doing, but that is no excuse).

If someone buys Starbucks gift cards with dirty money, by selling the gift card at a discount, you get laundered money back.

It's could be even more advantageous if you sell the gift cards for bitcoins, which can be sent anywhere in the world and anonymously exchanged for cash in nearly any currency/country through localbitcoins.

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