This Holiday Season, Redeem Your Gift Cards for Crypto!

The holidays are around the corner, and so is the gifting season. According to the 2024 Deloitte holiday retail survey, shoppers are more optimistic this year and plan to increase their spending by 8% compared to 2023, with the average expected spend expected to be as high as $1,778. 

When it comes to gifting, there are many choices. However, one instrument that has always stood out is gift cards. Research shows that, in 2023, gift cards emerged as the star of the season, occupying as much as 43% of the holiday budget. 

However, the survey also showed that people wanted flexible, open-loop, multi-brand cards. This indicates that people want autonomy, independence, and multidimensionality when buying gifts with their cards. 

Alongside this, there is another stream of consumer preference. It is the willingness to buy crypto-related gifts this holiday season. A recent survey offered some interesting and exciting numbers about this emerging trend.

A study by the NFT Evening team says that close to 49% of Americans plan to buy crypto-themed gifts for family and friends this holiday season. Even more telling is that over 45% of Americans think crypto would be a perfect gift for occasions beyond the holiday season, such as birthdays and anniversaries. 

Given this scenario, if we look at these two parallel consumer preference streams, the question immediately comes to everyone’s mind: Is there a way to merge these forces? The short answer is yes! Following are the top three platforms where people can go with their gift cards and buy crypto. 

1. Paxful

Paxful is one of the biggest P2P cryptocurrency marketplaces today. A big reason for its popularity is that its platform allows users to trade their gift cards for other users’ crypto. Unwanted but unused gift cards like Amazon, PlayStation Network, or Walmart can be exchanged for Bitcoin, Tether, Ethereum, or USDC.

A gift card to Bitcoin trades on Paxful is relatively easy to complete. Some filters allow you to find trade partners from a specific country and type of gift card. Users can also sort their offers by price to get the best gift card to crypto deals.

There are some risks with P2P trading, but Paxful has done a great job of securing its users’ funds and ensuring trades are completed without a hitch. For instance, photos of gift cards and even proof of purchase are required in the platform to prevent fraud. An army of moderators also keeps the marketplace safe and resolves disputes in a timely manner.

2. Binance

Binance, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, offers gift cards. These cards allow anyone to send cryptocurrency to others, making them a convenient option for gifting digital assets.

To buy a Binance Gift Card, you’ll need a Binance account with sufficient cryptocurrency balance. Once logged in, navigate to the ‘Gift Card’ section, select your desired cryptocurrency and amount, choose a design, and complete the purchase. The recipient can then redeem the gift card on Binance to access the cryptocurrency. 

Due to regulations, Binance now requires Know Your Business (KYB) verification to create gift cards directly on their platform.

3. Bitvalve P2P Crypto Exchange

BitValve P2P crypto exchange also allows the purchase of Bitcoin with gift cards. The process is simple and easy to follow. Users first register on BitValve.com to create a BitValve account, and a crypto wallet is automatically created.

Next, the user needs to click on the Bitcoin icon from the crypto list to view all BTC offers available at that point in exchange for a gift card. BitValve has more than 39 options, including Airbnb Gift Cards, Amazon Gift Cards, American Express Gift Cards, and Apple Store Gift Cards. The user is free to choose an offer with the lowest margin, and once the purchase is completed, the Bitcoin is credited directly to the BitValve built-in multi-crypto wallet.

With all these options available, a crypto-enthusiast or investor keen to leverage the growth digital assets promises and deliver has nothing more to worry about. All those piled-up gift cards—often seen as unusable or impractical for investing—can now be converted into crypto, the asset of the future.