Raise, the company behind the popular gift card purchasing app, has begun further integrating cryptocurrency into its platform.
The company has partnered with Wallet Connect to add support and begin accepting a wide range of popular digital wallets, including MetaMask, Phantom, and Coinbase Wallet. Ethereum
-5.04%
, 
dot
-2.95%
, 
Bitcoin
-3.57%
and 
brush
-3.44%
Not only tokens 
USDC
-0.06%
and 
USDT
-0.07%
Stablecoins as a means of payment.
Founded in 2012, the company has over 6 million customers and partners directly with over 1,000 major retailers. It has facilitated over $10 billion in transactions through its consumer app, exchange, and B2B operations.
“The plan is to rapidly expand to other tokens and currencies in the future,” Raise CEO George Bussis said in a statement to The Block, adding that the company expects a series of major blockchain-related announcements in the near future. “Our primary focus from the beginning has been to partner with bigger things.”
Bousis said users can bring their non-custodial wallets directly into the Raise app and “pay for anything in real time,” so you can book an Uber with ETH, buy groceries with USDC, or book an Airbnb with Bitcoin.
Busch said that at launch, there will be no fees for cryptocurrency transactions due to agreements made with retailers, and that the costs of cryptocurrency transactions are minimal compared to the costs of fraud management.
“We are using a gift card rail that is directly integrated with all retailers to spin up gift cards for purchases made with crypto,” Bousis said. The product was rolled out to a select group of users during A/B testing and has received positive feedback.
Bousis said the company will promote the new cryptocurrency payment option within the app through banners and placements. “This is something we are really excited about and think it can bring more liquidity to our ecosystem. We will also be rapidly expanding on the B2B side,” he added.
Raise also works directly with cryptocurrency foundations and protocols to run specific promotions that provide users with additional cashback whenever their native tokens are used. For example, users can receive up to 20% cashback on DOT purchases by integrating the Polkadot Pay app.
The plan is to expand cryptocurrency payment options to 30 countries by the end of the year.
Previous experiments
In the early days of the company, Bousis said he tried building on top of Bitcoin, but found the blockchain too slow and expensive. The same problems arose after Ethereum first launched in 2015, which led Bousis to smart contracts.
“The gift card market today processes $1 trillion in transactions per year, so from a TPS and infrastructure standpoint, it was just not possible. We basically put a lot of things on hold because of the technology shortages that existed,” Bousis said.
But today, technology is not behind the times. Without going into too much detail, Bousis said the company is building a private-public hybrid blockchain to move most of its gift card and store credit business on-chain.
“This gives retailers ultimate control and visibility over everything from customer data to the actual relationship with the end user,” Bousis said. He added that blockchain’s transparency can mitigate fraud, bad actors and noise in the industry. “There are a lot of rentiers between the brand and the consumer,” he said.
In particular, Bousis is interested in the programmability of smart contracts that could offer certain users specific discounts or deals based on factors such as weather. He gave the example of an AMC possibly offering a discount to a user when it rains, knowing that bad weather generally slows down business.
In fact, retail payments are arguably the first use case for cryptocurrencies, and have delivered more than they promised so far. This started when Satoshi first envisioned Bitcoin as “peer-to-peer cash.”
“I think the only way cryptocurrencies will get mass adoption is if people use them without realizing they are using a crypto rail or blockchain-based technology,” Bousis said.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet providing news, research and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is the largest investor in The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the cryptocurrency space. Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget is an anchor LP of Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to provide objective, impactful and timely information on the cryptocurrency industry. Below are the current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All rights reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not provided or intended to be legal, tax, investment, financial or other advice.