Now, You Are Able To Convert Digital Tokens To Gift Cards With Coinbase
July 26, 2018Using Cryptocurrencies to acquire physical goods is still something that you won’t see everywhere. To start solving this problem, Coinbase has partnered with WeGift from wegift.io, a platform that enables transactions of gift cards for many famous brands.
This new service offered by Coinbase it’s available for every customer from Australia and Europe, which lets them convert their any amount of crypto coins available in their Coinbase storage into an electronic gift card to use on popular stores.
Things that you would usually do with fiat currency will now open their doors to Cryptocurrencies with this new gift card solution, and services like Google Play, Marks & Spencer, Uber, Tesco, and many more will let you use your gift cards with them.
Service Restrictions
WeGift currently has gift cards for dozens of merchants, and while the gift card feature is now live in the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, Netherlands and Australia, many of these merchants available from WeGift are restricted to customers based in the U.K.
In this case, customers from other countries would only get a handful of options like France, which only has gift cards available for Décathlon, Global Hotel Card, Bloom & Wild, and Ticketmaster.
To solve this inconvenience, Coinbase says that more retailers will be added in the coming months.
Difference Between Using WeGift And Regular Bank Accounts
WeGift tends to offer the fiat equivalent of your Cryptocurrencies as well as a tiny bonus; this bonus is common in the WeGift platform, making it more convenient than regular bank accounts. Many (If not all) of the eGift cards available with WeGift will give you a certain bonus depending on the gift card you choose. For example, Nike has a +6% Bonus while Google Play services offer a +2% Bonus.
Another thing if the comparison between a Bank Account and a eGift Card; if you wish to withdraw €100 from Cryptocurrencies in your bank account, you would have to wait 3 days, with a 1.50% fee, receiving 98.50€.
On the other hand, cashing your money out with an eGift card will give you instant withdrawal, no fees, and up to 5% bonuses. Withdrawing 100€ with all the features offered by WeGift will turn out on you receiving 105€.
A Great Opportunity With This New Alternative
It isn’t the first time that Coinbase does something to let their users acquire services with Cryptocurrencies. In 2015, Coinbase made a partnership with Shift and launched the Shift debit card, allowing US residents to spend Bitcoins in stores and online via a Visa-Backed card. While receiving money on bank accounts or debit cards are far more convenient than gift cards, acquiring gift cards is a safe way to make money by speculating on Cryptocurrencies without the need of having a bank keeping track of you.
But just like some banks that can directly report data on their users to local tax authorities, Coinbase can also track every event and notify them as well.
