This is a promoted article provided by CoinFlip.
Despite the progress that Bitcoin has made since its inception in filling the cavernous gaps in the financial system and providing relief to the world’s underbanked, there are some areas where more growth is still desperately needed.
But now, with a new service in addition to its legacy offerings, CoinFlip is addressing those areas of need on two fronts.
CoinFlip already operated some 950 Bitcoin ATMs across the country, offering one of the most friction-free and critical entry points to BTC for those who are underserved by legacy financial institutions. Users can accrue BTC from CoinFlip’s machines with as little as a bitcoin wallet, mobile phone number, name and whatever fiat cash they want to invest.
Bitcoin ATMs like CoinFlip’s are one of the most critical ways that people around the world are accessing Bitcoin. And, to complement this service, CoinFlip is now also offering the sale of gift cards at major retailers in exchange for BTC through a partnership with eGifter. So, not only can more underbanked people now invest in BTC through CoinFlip, but they can exchange that BTC for goods and services as well.
“CoinFlip is always looking to bring new crypto services to our customer base, which is primarily retail investors and people who are underserved by financial institutions,” explained Dustin Wei, CoinFlip’s head of business development. “Gift cards are a great way for our customers to actually spend their bitcoin at the merchants that they choose. CoinFlip offers several different ways to buy bitcoin, but this is the first time that we are offering a way for people to spend it.”
Though the ultimate objective for BTC would be to serve as truly digital cash, which can be spent anywhere for any kind of good or service, the adoption of Bitcoin has not yet reached this point. In the meantime, using gift cards as a bridge between bitcoin and the vast majority of retailers is a popular solution that is helping to prove this use case.
“Bitcoin's ultimate goal is to become a currency,” Wei said. “Today, bitcoin is still not widely accepted so gift cards are a great indirect way to actually spend bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. We hope that bitcoin will one day be used as a direct currency for goods and services.”
Through the new marketplace, CoinFlip is offering gift cards to dozens of major retailers, including Adidas, the Apple App Store, Target and more. It’s currently available through CoinFlip’s website, but soon the gift cards will be integrated into its Bitcoin ATMs, giving users another way of converting their fiat and giving the ATM operators additional foot traffic.
All told, this new marketplace will be another critical inroad from a group that is dedicated to putting bitcoin in the hands of those who need it most, and propelling this technology into its inevitable future.
“We hope that with this gift card marketplace, our user base made of retail investors and financially underserved users realize that bitcoin is more than just an investment vehicle,” Wei said. “Cryptocurrency adoption happens when people realize it’s the best way to both store value and transact, and this is the first step in making that happen. We believe that eventually, merchants will directly accept bitcoin as they see an exponential amount of users use gift cards purchased with crypto.”