Trader Joe’s is the latest retailer to make its way into the world of non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. The grocery chain recently announced it would accept a limited edition NFT in exchange for a physical item at one of its stores in Brooklyn, New York.
It’s not just blockchain technology that Trader Joe’s is taking a step toward, but also the Ethereum ecosystem. The company has launched an ‘Ethereum-based NFT’ called TZERO – meaning it’s an ERC-721 token on the Ethereum blockchain. This isn’t the first time Trader Joe’s has experimented with cryptocurrencies; they already accept bitcoin payments in their physical stores as well as online through BitPay. Additionally, you can use Amazon Pay to purchase groceries at any of their locations which are then shipped to your house (but I guess this only applies if you live in California).
Trader Joe Makes A Positive Start
The trader gave away their first batch of TZERO tokens by sending them out via email blast to all customers who had purchased products from them within two weeks prior to launch day on November 1st 2019 and again on December 1st 2019…
According to the YouTuber, he purchased the NFT at a Trader Joe’s in Los Angeles. The physical item that can be redeemed with the NFT is a limited edition bottle of craft beer from Firestone Walker called “Pivo Pils.”
The grocery Youtuber who posted the find on Twitter claims that it was available for sale on August 29th, 2019 as a limited edition product. According to his tweet, this will be available until August 20th, 2020; however, there is no evidence that this is true or where he got his information from (it may have just been speculation).
The acronym NFT stands for “non-fungible token,” which refers to a digital asset that has the same value as a physical one. This means that each NFT token can be exchanged for something of equal value. In this case, the limited edition Trader Joe’s Crypto-candy will be redeemable for an actual candy bar (and it looks like it’ll be delicious).
