We've talked about this a lot: #1598123, #743123 #869415

Under a broken monetary system, EVERY COMPANY becomes money-printing banks

Airlines? Banks.
Card companies? Banks.
Universities? Banks
Hotels? Baaaaanks
Fintech firm Revolut? TOTALLY a bank.

...the latter is literally a bank, which issues fiat-denominated loans etc (#1578425) but also prints points that conveniently plug into other shitcoin companies (airlines, hotels etc).

The ultra-financialization of everything...

In January 2002, shortly after the launch of the Starbucks Card, Michael Casey was its CFO and he reportedly gave a novel description of how Starbucks would use those funds. According to Allen Eslekin, the original Starbucks Card program manager, Casey was elated: the program represented “a $20 million interest free loan from our customers” that would reduce their reliance on banks for loans and operating cash.

Yeah, that's not how the customers think of them... but that's entirely what they are.

In 2019, AIER contributor J.P. Koning reiterated this illustration in his Moneyness blog. There, he explained that balances on gift cards amounted to $1.6 billion and “simultaneously function as a loan to Starbucks,” and customers are “providing the company with free debt.”

Love that. While JP's stance on Bitcoin has been between disappointing and retarded, he is/was spot on for this. One of the few online articles that have, in one fell swoop, altered my perspective.

Are Cowboy Credits Shitcoins?

I mean, of course they are.

SAME THING. They're interest-free finances for k00b et al. You can call them prepaid balances all you want, but if capital has a cost (Lightning channels, operational costs etc), then anything SN doesn't need to keep/hold one-for-one are freebies. Duh. (Fine, they're bitcoin-denominated liabilites, so that's less great if/when bitcoin appreciates, but if it doesn't?!)

...That they decay "fast" or can always be turned into SN-relevant services (posts, zaps, comments) is immaterial. Same goes for Starbucks:

Lenders of money expect dollars back. Not so with a Starbucks gift card. The terms for a gift card purchase make it clear that the balance is “nonrefundable” and that it “may not be redeemed for cash,” unless required by law. What is owed is coffee or other Starbucks merchandise of the holder’s choice at an uncertain location sometime in the future.

"According to their Q3 2026 SEC filing, Starbucks holds over $1.8 billion in “stored value card liability and current portion of deferred revenue.”"

The economy of gift cards must also grapple with another reality: lost and forgotten cards. “Breakage” is the accounting term for those cards that are lost in the back of your kitchen junk drawer or that slid between your bucket seats.

My friend running partnerships for a certain old-school/fiat shitcoin (=loyalty) program confirms this... Breakage is sort of the point. The BEST possible money for them. _I wonder what the "Breakage" equivalent is for Stacker and CC. If k00b et al were to produce income statements and balance sheet for their business (which, presumably, they do to investors/annual report style), where would outstanding and non-used CCs sit?!

What breakage can’t do is produce cash. What it can do is to goose the earnings reports that shareholders and banks use to assess investment and lending decisions. In FY 2025, Starbucks’ operating cash flow fell by 22 percent compared to the previous year.

This isn't quite true. The cash was given to Starbucks up front! So the booking of breakage doesn't produce cash, sure, the company had the cash all along. That's what an interest-free loan MEANS.

In this inflationary environment, holding a Starbucks gift card subjects one to an inflation tax. Prepaid cards experience a loss of purchasing power in the same way that holding cash balances do. Two years ago, that $25 gift card may have purchased five drinks at $5, but now may only get you four at $6.25 each.

We have a similar situation going on with CCs and bitcoin, since bitcoin's exchange rate travels/trades structurally downward. A CC created (and unused, unredeemed) at almost any point in the last two years is worth less than it was when it was created. Consumer missing out.