Bitcoin wallets make it easy for users to store, spend, and receive cryptocurrency on their favorite device. Particularly mobile wallets add a major convenience factor, both of novice and advanced users. Copay, the mobile wallet solution that hardly makes headlines, seems to offer gift card integration shortly. In doing so, the developers add a use case for Bitcoin, which is always a good thing.
Copay and Gift Cards
Getting average users to install a mobile Bitcoin wallet is not a difficult task, even though it will be greeted with a fair amount of apprehension. But getting people to use the Bitcoin they receive, even if it a fractional amount, is something else entirely. To most people, Bitcoin has no real use cases that are remotely interesting.
Integrating additional use cases for Bitcoin into a mobile wallet is an excellent way to prove these people wrong. The Copay developers have been thinking along the same lines, as it appears gift card integration will be added soon. This gives users a way to pay for Amazon gift cards from their Copay wallet directly.
Buying gift cards with Bitcoin has been possible for quite some time now. Users will have to rely on third party service providers to do so, though. Gyft is by far the most popular gift card platform among Bitcoin users, albeit there are others available as well. Most of these efforts are US-oriented, though, leaving international users in the cold.
For now, it remains anybody’s guess if and when the gift card option will be integrated into Copay. There has been no official announcement regarding this option just yet, although a leaked screenshot can be found on Reddit. Assuming the developers go ahead with this plan, it is good to see use cases accessible from within the mobile wallet itself.
Whether or not this integration will boost Bitcoin spending among novice cryptocurrency users, remains to be seen. Amazon gift cards are not available under US$10, and unless the user has a similar or higher balance in their Copay wallet, they can’t access the feature. Then again, we will find out once the update goes live.
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