American Express Shatters Corporate Norms with Revolutionary Travel Stamp NFTs on Base Network
Wall Street's sleeping giant just woke up—and it's playing with blockchain fire.
American Express drops travel-themed NFT stamps on Coinbase's Base network, marking their boldest Web3 move yet. Forget loyalty points—this is digital scarcity meets global exploration.
Why Base? Lightning transactions, near-zero gas fees, and Ethereum's security backbone. Amex isn't dipping toes—it's diving headfirst into on-chain utility.
Each NFT stamp unlocks exclusive perks: airport lounge access, premium hotel upgrades, even crypto-backed travel insurance. They're not selling jpegs—they're selling status.
Traditional finance purists are sweating. 'But volatility! Regulatory risk!' Meanwhile, Amex just future-proofed their rewards program for the next decade.
One cynical jab? Banks finally realized NFTs print money better than their fractional reserve systems.
Amex chose to put the stamps onchain as NFTs because blockchain assets can give a greater sense of permanence, Marlowe explained, like the ink of a physical stamp.
“We really are hoping again to capture a customer at the end of their journey, when they’re commemorating and thinking about where they’ve gone, in the hopes that they get inspired again and do something new with us next time,” he said.
It’s not surprising that Amex is minting the travel stamps on Base. In June, Coinbase revealed the Coinbase One card, which uses Amex and promises 2-4% back in Bitcoin rewards on every purchase made.
As I’ve said before, both Coinbase and Amex are positioning themselves as premium brands — though that means using them comes with higher fees compared to other options on the market.
The Amex Passport feature is now available for US cardholders within the Amex mobile app, and can be accessed by going to Account > Settings > Try New Features.
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