- In order to provide support for a variety of well-known digital wallets, such as MetaMask, Phantom, and Coinbase Wallet, gift card company Raise teamed up with Wallet Connect.
- With plans to extend possibilities, users will be able to pay in-app using USDC and USDT stablecoins in addition to ETH, DOT, BTC, and SOL tokens, thanks to this integration.
- Additionally, Raise intends to further incorporate blockchain technology within its IT stack.
The startup that created the well-known software for buying gift cards, Raise, is beginning to further incorporate cryptocurrency into its platform.
The company has teamed up with Wallet Connect to start taking tokens and stablecoins as payment, as well as to enable support for a variety of well-known digital wallets, such as MetaMask, Phantom, and Coinbase Wallet.
Established in 2012, the company boasts of more than six million customers and direct relationships with more than 1,000 large shops. Via its consumer app, exchange, and business-to-business operations, it has facilitated transactions totaling more than $10 billion.
George Bousis, CEO of Raise, said that the company plans to swiftly grow into a number of different tokens and currencies in the future and that it anticipates making a number of significant announcements pertaining to blockchain technology soon. Working with the larger ones right out of the gate was our main priority.
According to Bousis, users will be able to pay for anything instantly by importing their non-custodial wallets straight into the Raise app. Thus, you may use ETH to book an Uber trip, USDC to buy groceries, and Bitcoin to book an Airbnb.
According to Bousis, there won’t be any fees for these cryptocurrency transactions at launch because of agreements made with retailers and the fact that managing fraud is far more expensive than operating cryptocurrency transactions.
According to Bousis, we’re spinning up a gift card at the moment of purchase using cryptocurrency by utilizing the gift card rails that were immediately integrated with all of the stores. During A/B testing, a small subset of users had access to the product, and they gave it positive feedback.
Bousis noted that the company will use placements and advertisements to advertise the new cryptocurrency payment alternatives inside the app. We’re quite pleased about this and believe it could increase liquidity in our ecosystem. Additionally, he said, we’re planning to swiftly go into the B2B space.
Additionally, Raise is collaborating directly with cryptocurrency foundations and protocols to launch targeted campaigns that will give customers extra cashback each time they use the native token. For example, customers can earn up to 20% cash back on purchases made in DOT by integrating their Polkadot Pay app.
By the end of the year, the goal is to expand its cryptocurrency payment option to thirty countries.
Previous trials
Bousis stated that he had tried developing on Bitcoin in the early days of the company but discovered that the blockchain was too costly and slow. Bousis became interested in smart contracts after the initial Ethereum launch in 2015, when the same problem arose once more.
With a trillion dollars worth of transactions occurring in the gift card market annually, it was simply not feasible from both an infrastructure and a TPS perspective. Because of the technical issues, we had essentially shelved a lot of the projects we were working on, according to Bousis.
Today’s technology has, nevertheless, kept up with the times. Bousis stated, “Without getting too specific, the company has been developing a private-public hybrid blockchain to move a large portion of its gift cards and store credits business onchain.”
According to Bousis, this will provide retailers complete control and visibility into everything from consumer information to a real relationship with the final client. He continued by saying that the transparency of blockchain technology may help reduce fraud, dishonest people, and industrial noise. He claimed that a large number of rent seekers stand in the way of brands and customers.
Bousis is particularly interested in smart contracts’ programmability, which allows them to provide certain consumers discounts or rebates based on variables like the weather. He gave the hypothetical example of AMC possibly giving customers a discount when it rains because they are aware that bad weather usually causes business to slow down.
Retail payments are, after all, one of the earliest applications of cryptocurrency, and thus far, Satoshi’s initial idea of Bitcoin as P2P cash has been more spoken about than fulfilled.
According to Bousis, the only way widespread cryptocurrency acceptance will occur is if users begin utilizing crypto rails or blockchain-based technology without even realizing it.
Disclaimer : This article was created for informational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice. An asset’s past performance does not predict its future returns. Before making an investment, please conduct your own research, as digital assets like cryptocurrencies are highly risky and volatile financial instruments.
