Howard Schultz, the executive chairman and former CEO of Starbucks, said that “one or a few legitimate” cryptocurrencies are coming, but does not “believe that bitcoin is going to be a currency today or in the future” and believes in the underlying blockchain technology.

Schultz clarified that he brought up the topic not because Starbucks is developing or investing in cryptocurrencies, but wanted to discuss the long-term potential of a “consumer application in which there’s trust and legitimacy” when thinking “about the future of our company and the future of consumer behavior.” He went on to mention that he could see a future where the coffee chain would be completely cashless.

The current CEO, Kevin Johnson, reiterated that the coffee giant is not investing in blockchain, but did say they are testing a cashless store in Seattle. Johnson recognized that “payment and payment platforms are continuing to evolve” and wants Starbucks to integrate new technology before competitors.

Consumer experience is a top priority

Schultz receives praise in the business community for building the modern Starbucks empire because he focused on consumer service and experience, which now qualifies him to recognize the importance of identifying consumer behavior and desires. Starbucks predicts future payment systems to evolve with how consumer desires evolve, much the same as Schultz evolved American coffee culture by recognizing, satisfying, and shaping consumer desires. Key to cryptocurrency adoption is not only to supply a great product, but also to show consumers a great experience and why to use cryptocurrency. Misunderstanding of the latter has partially led to a debate between Bitcoin, altcoins, and distributed ledger technology.

While the topic of whether Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies will offer the best technology is a subject of frequent debate, the business aspects to identify consumer behavior and to satisfy consumer desires can sometimes be overlooked. Naysayers doubt cryptocurrencies, but think distributed ledger technology can be integrated with current systems to better satisfy consumer desires. Cryptocurrencies have relatively high switching costs when compared to the ability of traditional payment systems to satisfy consumer desires even though the technology is inferior. Large scale adoption requires an appeal to as many consumers as possible, which requires satisfaction of consumer desires that reach beyond technology.

Dash recognizes additional elements of a strong consumer-focused currency

Cryptocurrency seeks global adoption, but many consumers are not interested in technical or economic arguments, which Dash can harness. Dash has the ability to fund omnichannel outreach to potential users not only through technical and economic avenues, but also through regular consumer avenues. Dash Force News attempts to boil down the crypto news into quick reads for busy consumers that do not want to spend time searching crypto forums. Dash sponsors sports to reach potential users that are sports fans. Dash sponsors investigative journalists to reach potential users that are news junkies. Dash partners with other businesses to bring simple and useful services to consumers right away.

Dash has the ability to reach large scale adoption with Evolution because it is an attempt to identify and solve consumer desires of simplicity. Evolution attempts to make sending and receiving Dash easy by pushing long cryptographic addresses to the backend. Evolution will also bring merchants straight to the Dash wallet eliminating the need for consumers to spend time and resources to find crypto-accepting merchants. In addition to Evolution, the DAO of Dash allows for evolving consumer needs to be continually identified and satisfied, which is key to achieve and maintain large scale adoption.