Bitcoin is obtaining a lot of buzz. Maybe it's because of recent success in Washington, which caused a new attack of speculative mania after what the cryptocurrency has reached $900.
Everyone know the essential Bitcoin's problem - it is not really useful in most cases. Some places in New York and San Francisco, for example, know what Bitcoin is and accept it, but still the most part of retailers have never heard it. Some people still think that the best way to purchase something is to simply swipe a credit card.
One method to change this unpopularity is to create a promotional program just like the one offered by on-line gift card service Gyft. The website offers new customers an on-line solution to mix other retailers gift cards like Gap and Target. This service also is giving a 3% discount to any purchase made using Bitcoin.
This Gyft's campaign is extremely important just because it allows the customers to decide - is it truly better to use Bitcoins instead of a credit card? However most retailers see a visible incentive not to use credit cards — because this can save 3% charged by the emitters of credit cards and also will help to avoid chargebacks — customers still think it is more profitable to use credit card because they guarantee 1% money back or alternative rewards.
Vinny Lingham, CEO in Gyft, said that their users are spending about 6 bitcoins a week to purchase from big retailers like Whoppers at Burger King. He also mentioned that a shop doesn't really have to know that a certain customer is using Bitcoin to pay, because the cashier just sees a barcode on customer's smartphone. The needed amount of money will be automatically deducted from the giftcard.
Generally speaking, this Gyft’s Bitcoin campaign is simply a drop in the bucket of transfers, however it is a great asset to motivate clients and grow real retail experience. There are two essential things that are at the moment missing within the usage of the Bitcoin.
In the interim, based in San Francisco exchange Coinbase has really helped their new customers to join Bitcoin. Earlier people had to wait several days to transfer money from their bank account to new Bitcoin wallet. This was irritating that's why Coinbase decided to give every new user their first Bitcoin just by registering a new account and providing credit card number.
It seems that changeable Bitcoin is not yet able to drive out a regular currency, thus it's better to use it for money transfer. However the speedy innovation process soon will let the customers to use Bitcoin everywhere. As you may know, 10,000 retailers are already accepting cryptocurrency though BitPay.