Crypto-friendly finance app, Plutus, announced the release of Pluton Rewards (PLU) to UK and EEA member countries. The Pluton token was the world’s first concept of a decentralized loyalty token back in 2015 and its full utility has now come to life in an innovative rewards program. 

Every time a user spends with their Plutus crypto card, they will now earn up to 3% of the transaction back in Pluton which can be converted into additional card balance as well as a number of other benefits.

This launch by Plutus comes at an ideal time for the project due to the global emphasis of a need to go entirely digital with financial transactions in a bid to not only combat the spread of COVID19 by avoiding physical banknotes, but also to evolve with the times. Its decentralized nature also highlights the possibilities of decentralized alternatives to traditional centralized programs.

Why Decentralised Rewards are So Important

Currently, loyalty rewards such as Nectar Points or Avios Air Miles are focused on retaining customers to a specific retailer or brand, however, the growing demand for more freedom of choice suggests this might be outdated.

Pluton was the first company to come up with a decentralized loyalty token which can be earnt at any merchant worldwide, greatly increasing the opportunities of earning rewards.

Instead of limiting users to a certain brand, Pluton are earnt anywhere that a Visa card is accepted; this currently stands at a massive 61 million merchants. 

This poses a much more appealing and modern approach to general consumers who would no longer have to carry an excessive number of loyalty cards in their wallet and oversubscribe their personal details to countless individual stores for relatively weak returns.

Unlike traditional loyalty rewards, Pluton runs on the Ethereum blockchain and can, therefore, be transferred between accounts or sent to friends and family. Whilst traditional loyalty points/tokens can only be used to offer value in their respective store, Pluton hold their own cash value and can, therefore, be exchanged into real-life currency to continue shopping. The company has an easy-to-use DEX to enable crypto-fiat conversions in-app.

Danial Daychopan, CEO and Founder of Plutus, pointed out that Pluton Rewards (PLU) will go a long way in providing an extra economic boost to users during this period of financial uncertainty. He explained this in the following statement: “This is a landmark milestone for all our customers, they can now earn generous crypto cashback rewards on essential purchases which is incredibly beneficial in these tough economic times.”

Other Perks

Many centralized loyalty rewards use their programs as an opportunity to harvest user spending habits and data whereas decentralized loyalty tokens tend to focus on adding value to the customers.

Pluton can be converted into additional card balance to continue spending or redeemed for a Premium subscription; this is one of three new account plans offered by the company which meet the various needs of different consumers. Multiple account options appear to be a growing trend for companies looking to tap into different consumer audiences.

The Plutus Premium account also includes access to another innovative money-saving programme where users get additional cashback at some of their retail partners. This is quite a rare reward programme as it gives twice the incentive to use their card. This was touted to release early this year but their community is still anticipating the release.

How New Features Can Boost Crypto Adoption

The case for crypto adoption has never been greater than now due to the global call to adopt digital financial transactions. A few weeks back, we saw the United States Federal Government muse at the idea of distributing the eagerly awaited stimulus funds to the American population through the use of a Digital Dollar. In the past few months, we have also heard rumors of several global Central Banks exploring the use of CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies). Earlier this week, The Central Bank of France, Banque de France, made headlines with its declaration of exploring the idea of a digital Euro. 

With the launch of Plutus’s features, Mr. Daychopan further explained that the rewards program and Account tiers have always been part of the Plutus blue-print and their arrival was a monumental achievement for the team. 

“Since the inception of Plutus, we have always wanted to provide a loyalty program that gives the users’ the freedom of choice and genuinely valuable rewards for using our services, and now we have proudly delivered on this.”

His statement sums up the commitment of Plutus in offering the best loyalty program in the crypto debit card industry. The project is now the first in offering crypto cashback and additional account tiers that cater to the needs of different types of users. The one-size-fits-all model is not ideal for consumers who are willing to pay membership fees to gain access to higher usage limits and additional perks.