Since when? The gift cards are still there, at least when I look at the list of rewards. Are you seeing something different? I'm talking about e-rewards, the main topic of this thread.

I recently redeemed 145 e-rewards dollars (I don't call them $ because they're not) for a $50 Starbucks gift card; the transaction was completed within a day (maybe faster, I don't remember). It was an e-code, redeemable online. Transferred it to my existing Starbucks card. Fast and painless.