Bitcoin Forum

That's a pretty good idea.  Would be cool if you could just buy Amex gift Cards or Visa Gift cards, since they would be basically as good as cash.

I think I read somewhere on this forum of a person selling cartons of ciggies for BTC

Gyft is really helping Bitcoin get the push it needs to appeal to mainstream stores such as CVS. Maybe this'll inspire more BTC acceptance among the general population :P.

Except that CVS has no clue that you bought that gift card with Bitcoin.

I don't think that buying gift cards via gyft with bitcoin is technically using bitcoin to shop at a store. Personally I think you should have to pay the store (or their bitcoin payment processor) directly in bitcoin for it to be a true bitcoin sale.

gyft.com is a great initiative
let's see if is extended worldwide

You could say that Gyft is their "bitcoin payment processor".

I honestly think that buying from any merchant that ultimately receives fiat isn't buying via bitcoin. That includes "bitcoin payment processors" such as bitpay/coinbase - which we don't need because ANYONE can accept BTC directly. We should be pushing more merchants to accept BTC directly IMO.

Amex Serve cards are free for a limited time at CVS. It might be a good idea to load up a few and sell them.  If you happen to live in VT or TX there's no monthly fee either.

No monthly fee for Serve in NY either but a pack of cigarettes costs more than $10.

yeah again gfy is just a  middle man, CVS and RiteAid need to jump on the bitcoin wagon, putting a bitcoin accepted payment on the register area will surley help people realize that is here to stay.

When you go and do that, tell them how you bought it if they seem like they have a little time to talk! It would be great if everytime someone used a gyft giftcard that they said something like "hey i bought this with bitcoin and am now spending it here, you guys should accept bitcoin to begin with" or something like that. Would be nice to get the employees hearing about it :)

Rite Aid just moved into my area and I see they do western union.  It does appear cvs and rite aid are getting more into money transfer services so maybe they'll take on bitcoin next.

So CVS is just an alternative to Gyft? I've never heard of it before. What selection do they have and what countries do they operate in?

They have had western union and/or moneygram for a long time now. 


CVS and rite aide are large pharmacy chains in the US.  They carry most prepaid and gift cards but not gyft.

It's a cool idea, but you should reword it to say.

I bought exchanged my bitcoins for fiat gift cards, or in other words, I exchanged my bitcoins for fiat and purchased smokes.

The OP bought a gift card from Gyft (a CVS gift card). Although he did use bitcoin to buy the gift card he didn't truly use bitcoin for his CVS transaction. I think that once physical stores start accepting bitcoin for purchases many more people will see how advantageous it is to use and buy bitcoin.

Right. The Bitcoins were converted to dollars back when he bought the Gyft card. By the time he got to CVS, the Bitcoins were long gone.