Bitcoin as a gift cards

[macson]

According to Simon Grylka, head of operations at Värdex, Cryptonow offers a simple onboarding channel for would-be cryptocurrency adopters daunted by the usual avenues for acquiring virtual currency. For Grylka, the Cryptonow voucher is akin to digital gold coins.

The Cryptonow voucher cards will be available in three different variants ranging from 100 to 500 francs ($107 to $535). The Värdex Bitcoin gift card product is coming amid continued growth in Switzerland’s crypto and blockchain industry.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/major-swiss-retailers-set-to-debut-bitcoin-gift-cards

I think this is a very interesting concept.

instead of making Bitcoin a means of payment, a Swiss company is converting Bitcoin into a kind of voucher so that its users can spend Bitcoin indirectly.

I'm curious about your response to the concept offered by Cryptonow....are you agree with their concepts?

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[androyster]

I wonder how they will handle the volatility of BTC?  Maybe the build in a safety factor?

[DdmrDdmr]

<…> instead of making Bitcoin a means of payment, a Swiss company is converting Bitcoin into a kind of voucher so that its users can spend Bitcoin indirectly.<…>

I figure that what they are talking about is this: https://www.vaerdex.ch/products/cryptonow

Cointelegraph’s article states that:

Presently, the options available to them would be to redeem the vouchers via an exchange service or sell the BTC amount loaded on the card using one of the 70 Bitcoin ATMs operated by Värdex.

You don’t really spend the bitcoins directly. Infact, you purchase the voucher for x amount of CHF, but you need to activate it in order to convert the CHF to bitcoins. Activation is performed for a fee between 2,9% and 5,9% (depending on the actual reseller).

The card itself has a private key and a public key (you need to trust that the privte key is indeed known only to you). Similar therefore to a paper wallet in a sense, not acting as a card to spend your bitcoins directly at a store, but rather to store them (or redeem them as stated in the above quote).

Edit: better described here: https://cryptonow.ch/en

[Matimtim]

This thing sounds good, but the problem is bitcoin price isn't fix, maybe today its price is good, but it might be not tommorow, but yes its possible that bitcoin place in a card with a certain price however its price is approximately not totally sure how much it is.

As now i think we have physical coins of bitcoin with certain amount of bitcoin on it, just what you're pointing out.

[sunsilk]

It is just another use case of bitcoin to make the no coiners use it easily. But it is no different from the way we spend it for purchasing things, online or physically.

It may seem easy to hear as you can receive or give bitcoins as a gift card for the receiver has to spend it or can simply do the same as we do and that is to hold too.

[Ucy]

This thing sounds good, but the problem is bitcoin price isn't fix, maybe today its price is good, but it might be not tommorow, but yes its possible that bitcoin place in a card with a certain price however its price is approximately not totally sure how much it is.

As now i think we have physical coins of bitcoin with certain amount of bitcoin on it, just what you're pointing out.

The price probably won't matter too much to people who will be saving such vouchers long-term.
I think the price would need to fluctuate moderately without sacrificing deflationary feature of cryptocurrency for the voucher to be used for buying and selling like physical fiat currencies.
And there should be ways to guarantee the safety of the private keys for this to considered safe.

[DdmrDdmr]

<...>

The faq section on https://cryptonow.ch/en states that "the cryptocurrency will be transferred to your cryptonow wallet." I wasn’t exactly sure what they meant by that (the redemption process asks for a valid wallet id, pin and phone to proceed), but I found what seems to be the procedure here:
https://vaerdexhelp.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360019928539-How-to-import-BTC-from-a-cryptonow-wallet-to-a-desktop-PC-wallet-

So the way it works, I figure, is that you redeem the card, the bitcoins get sent to the card’s public address, and from there on it’s up to you if you simply hold it there, or move it to a more dynamic wallet of your choice, that allows you to import a private key.

[davis196]

I wonder how they will handle the volatility of BTC?  Maybe the build in a safety factor?

Volatility isn't the biggest problem here.The biggest problem is that the buyers might get scammed by this service.Such Bitcoin gift card services already exist.Check out Cryptovoucher.io-they aren't that popular and I see mixed reviews about their service.
Having Bitcoin gift cards simply adds another layer of risk of being scammed and a merchant,that requires fees for a service,that is almost completely useless.

[verita1]

If I received a bitcoin voucher from Cryptonow I would see what would be the most convenient to take advantage of the benefit. If I use it for the purpose that it was created, I am helping to make bitcoin known in my community because the company that issues gift cards does so taking advantage of the bitcoin boom to know the public's response.

I remember that once for a reward campaign that I participated, the administrators offered us Amazon gift cards or tokens as a means of payment and most of the participants chose the tokens.

[macson]

<…> instead of making Bitcoin a means of payment, a Swiss company is converting Bitcoin into a kind of voucher so that its users can spend Bitcoin indirectly.<…>

I figure that what they are talking about is this: https://www.vaerdex.ch/products/cryptonow

Cointelegraph’s article states that:

Presently, the options available to them would be to redeem the vouchers via an exchange service or sell the BTC amount loaded on the card using one of the 70 Bitcoin ATMs operated by Värdex.

You don’t really spend the bitcoins directly. Infact, you purchase the voucher for x amount of CHF, but you need to activate it in order to convert the CHF to bitcoins. Activation is performed for a fee between 2,9% and 5,9% (depending on the actual reseller).

The card itself has a private key and a public key (you need to trust that the privte key is indeed known only to you). Similar therefore to a paper wallet in a sense, not acting as a card to spend your bitcoins directly at a store, but rather to store them (or redeem them as stated in the above quote).

Edit: better described here: https://cryptonow.ch/en

thanks for the fully explanation, i missed that.  the scenario they offer is more precisely what @sunsilk wrote.  

It is just another use case of bitcoin to make the no coiners use it easily. But it is no different from the way we spend it for purchasing things, online or physically.

It may seem easy to hear as you can receive or give bitcoins as a gift card for the receiver has to spend it or can simply do the same as we do and that is to hold too.

I like their concept that actually tricks the government, paying with Bitcoin directly is prohibited but paying with Bitcoin vouchers is not prohibited cmiiw

[Sterbens]

I think even though this will be implemented soon, this procedure will not be conducive. The reason is, using vouchers will certainly make the value not fixed and change according to the movement of bitcoin. So even if it is implemented, it will be very ineffective in the long run. needs to be reconsidered. there is some sort of advantage that is being taken from one particular party, especially Cryptonow.

[Hippocrypto]

It is just another use case of bitcoin to make the no coiners use it easily. But it is no different from the way we spend it for purchasing things, online or physically.

It may seem easy to hear as you can receive or give bitcoins as a gift card for the receiver has to spend it or can simply do the same as we do and that is to hold too.

That depends on the end user for how they wanted to utilize the gift they have received. I would like to suggest, that having gift like digital currency should be cherished and don't spend it at glance. Take it as most valuable, because bitcoin nowadays became so expensive and we don't know we might see that the price would go beyond limitations. Profit would certainly become more efficient as time gets older.

[Poker Player]

It doesn't seem to be any different from bitrefill, which works very well. It's good that there is competition, and, yes, while this is not the use originally intended for bitcoin, it helps its adoption.

[Renampun]

It doesn't seem to be any different from bitrefill, which works very well. It's good that there is competition, and, yes, while this is not the use originally intended for bitcoin, it helps its adoption.

*for sure, it's my first time hearing this, it's quite interesting...
An interesting thing like this will certainly make it possible to accelerate the mass adoption of Bitcoin, so is Bitrefill the first to implement this. *hope someday bitcoin vouchers like this available in my city

[dkbit98]

This cryptonow Bitcoin vouchers are only working for Switzerland and Liechtenstein and for limited number of shops, and what is more important is that they have pre-printed public and private key on the back of the card, so it can be very unsecure to use this vouchers, and it all reminds me on that Ballet card wallet but is even less secure than Ballet.
One more thing is that people probably need to pass some kyc aml registration when they buy this voucher, and that is one more minus for me.
I would never recommend anyone to use this vouchers until they improve and remove printed private keys.

[Twentyonepaylots]

For now, this is only available for countries like Switzerland Liechtenstein. Plus it doesn't help that the small percentage of people using bitcoin there could heavily affect this otherwise revolutionary concept. If the US could adopt such concept and make it more accessible to the general public by allowing establishment to sell these gift vouchers, this could have a very gopd chance of getting popular.

[lalabotax]

Isn't this already there and applied? Bitcoin gftcard is already on several merchants and is being traded. No matter what, the point is to still transfer Bitcoin. However, it is possible that every merchant has its own mechanism. However, if we do get it or want to use a merchant giftcard, we should be more vigilant so as not to experience a scam.

[AniviaBtc]

This thing sounds good, but the problem is bitcoin price isn't fix, maybe today its price is good, but it might be not tommorow, but yes its possible that bitcoin place in a card with a certain price however its price is approximately not totally sure how much it is.

As now i think we have physical coins of bitcoin with certain amount of bitcoin on it, just what you're pointing out.

Bitcoin should stay as a store of value or asset into an investment rather than making it into gift cards or voucher things.

Let's just enjoy utilizing or managing bitcoin in the market because of its volatility and it is really hard to put this coin into a gift card due to its value.

Let bitcoin, be bitcoin. You can gift bitcoin by sending a certain amount to them instead of transforming it into a voucher, send it directly so that we will not have any problem with that. Bitcoin's price in the market is not stable so it is really impossible for us to make it into a gift check.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

Bitcoin itself can be used as a gift. You don't have to buy any gift card to give anyone a gift in bitcoin.

Using Locktime for inheritance planning, backups or gifts
Dead man's switch. Website for more details about that service. It has Free and Premium accounts. 2 recipients max for Free accounts and 100 for Premium accounts. With locked gift bitcoin, I think the Free account is enough as gift sender will plan to do it with one or two people.

[isaac_clarke22]

~

It's not that far from being stolen from what I can see. Even back then when I was buying a gaming credit like Steam credits, it turned out to be used ones. I guess just hackers getting smarter these days.
I wonder how would it go if it is Bitcoin. It is not even centralized and there ain't nobody that's gonna help you to retrieve that stolen amount.

I remembered someone in Marketplace section back then that he was planning to make some business for prepaid Bitcoin. I wonder how it went through now though.