Five crypto platforms with great gift card features

The way I see it, the more tangible use cases for cryptocurrency the better. While there is a popular line of thinking in the crypto industry that argues for a separation of crypto and traditional finance, there are a lot of people involved in crypto and everyone has different needs. The beauty of the cryptocurrency industry lies in its diversity. Whatever it is that you would like to do with your coins, it is very likely that there either exists a platform ready to accommodate you or there soon will be. 

One of the more popular use cases for cryptocurrency has been as a means of acquiring gift cards. It should come as no surprise that the global pandemic has boosted online shopping rates through the roof. Now more than ever, people are getting all of their shopping needs taken care of at home. 

When you are a crypto enthusiast, taking care of your shopping needs can be a bit complicated. There is a great number of crypto platforms out there, and if you want to use crypto to shop you might end up having to jump through hoops to transfer your assets from one platform to another and convert your crypto to fiat. Luckily, that is not the case for every crypto platform. In the interest of simplifying your life, here we are going to take a brief look at some of the platforms that are offering convenient gift card programs that can make your crypto shopping experiences stress-free. 

Buying gift cards with crypto

First, we are going to focus on platforms that allow you to purchase gift cards with cryptocurrency. One of the biggest crypto to gift card services is that of Bitcoin.com. In the store section of its website, the platform offers a wide variety of gift cards that are broken down into categories like Food, Clothing and Health, and Fuel & Auto. The service is powered by Egifter, which is a cryptocurrency to gift card exchange service in its own right. Both on Bitcoin.com and the Egifter site users can also purchase gift cards to send to other people as presents, which is clutch come holiday time. 

Another platform that offers a wide selection of gift cards for crypto is Freewallet. Originally designed to be primarily a safe storage app, Freewallet has expanded over the years and morphed into a one-stop platform where users can take care of all their crypto needs. As part of their gift card program, Freewallet has partnered with over 800+ brands from around the world, including Netflix, eBay, iTunes and many more. The feature comes with a search tool that allows users to organize their options according to popularity or alphabetical order and includes offerings from a wide variety of stores covering a whole spectrum of consumer needs — including beauty and lifestyle, booksellers, department stores, electronics, entertainment, food and drink, home and DIY, jewelers, leisure and sports, men’s fashion, supermarkets, toys and games, travel and women’s fashion.

Selling gift cards for crypto

As nice as being able to buy gift cards for crypto is, it is just as important to go the other way and be able to redeem your gift cards for crypto. We all have gift cards with lingering balances and ones that we don’t really plan on using. Did that weird uncle of yours get you another gift card for a toy store despite the fact that you are well into your 20s? Well, there are some great platforms out there that will help you turn that into something more lasting. 

Paxful is one of the leading gift card redemption services on the web. The platform is structured around a peer-to-peer marketplace where users can connect and trade gift cards for crypto and vice versa. The site supports over 100 different gift cards from companies like Amazon, eBay, Google Play, and Walmart. In addition to that, users can also purchase crypto with prepaid Visa, Mastercard and Amex gift cards. 

Another interesting platform that will give you crypto for your gift cards is Purse. The way Purse works is that it connects users with unwanted gift cards with people looking to make online purchases on the sites at which the cards are valid. So with your gift card, you will essentially be paying for a shopper making purchases on Amazon or another similar site. Once the shopper has received their purchases, the equivalent amount of crypto in BTC or BCH will be made available to you. Purse also has a neat points conversion service in which you can redeem the points you earn with sites like Mechanical Turk and Ebates for cryptocurrency. 

While this only just scratches the surface of what’s out there, each of these platforms is worth checking out and can make online shopping a heck of a lot easier for cryptocurrency enthusiasts. The days of worrying about having to transfer your assets from one platform to another with crazy wait times and high transaction fees are over. And, come holiday season, these platforms will turn gift buying into a piece of cake.