eGifter Deal Enables Consumers to Buy Gift Cards with Bitcoin (Aug. 29, 2013)
Aug. 29, 2013
eGifter, a social and mobile gifting company and subsidiary of Melville, N.Y.-based GroupGifting.com, has partnered with Bitcoin wallet and platform provider Coinbase, enabling users of the eGifter Web and mobile apps to use Bitcoin virtual currency to purchase eGift cards from more than 100 brands, including GameStop, Home Depot and CVS.
Coinbase enables its partners to accept Bitcoin without having to actually take possession of the bitcoins and be exposed to market fluctuations, according to eGifter CEO Tyler Roye. “Coinbase simply sets the price in real-time and calculates the amount of bitcoins needed to complete the transaction, then they take the bitcoin payment in our app and pay us in U.S. dollars,” said Roye.
The deal with Coinbase follows a recent announcement that eGifter has added Braintree’s Venmo Touch as a payment option.
Bitcoin has been attracting growing interest lately from consumers and regulators around the world. Thailand’s central bank last month declared Bitcoin illegal, and Germany declared that citizens will have to pay capital gains on Bitcoin income. In the U.S., advocacy group Bitcoin Foundation met this week with several federal agencies to provide information about the decentralized virtual currency. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued guidance regarding virtual currencies, and a federal judge deemed Bitcoin a form of currency.
