Nike recently set up vending machines exclusively available to active users of their wearable fitness monitor, the Nike Fuelband. Purchases could only be made by redeeming points generated via physical activity.
At Starbucks cafes in the United States more than 30% of transactions are made with “Stars” — the reward points accrued against purchases over time, and stored on a Starbucks Card. In other words, one in three interactions at the till don’t involve traditional cash.
It’s not hard to imagine Stars becoming a currency option inside the countries in which Starbucks operates. The same applies to Amazon. The online retailer recently launched Amazon Coins. Admittedly, this was initially designed to make app purchases on the Kindle platform, but many economic commentators have noted that the company — whose global revenues of $74.4 billion are more than the GDP of many countries — has the scale and power to turn its online market into a virtual payment system by creating a shadow economy.
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