Crypto for Branded Currency
I am just gonna say it, 2019 is already the year for Branded Currency.
Last week, we talked about 3 major M&A moves in the industry, and we have one more to add to the list: SVS has acquired Buyatab! Talk about an eventful start to the year. This week, my inbox and newsfeed has been flooded with big crypto BRANDED currency updates. Let’s start with Flourish 2019 sponsors Swych.
Swych announced that they will begin accepting Bitcoin Core (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC) as forms of payment. This is hardly the first announcement for Swych regarding blockchain technology, the company announced they moved to a blockchain-based platform in December of 2018. The company has taken prepaid to the next level, working on cross-border remittance, and innovating at an incredible rate.
Chase Bank just rolled out their own branded cryptocurrency this week called JPM Coin. The blockchain-based JPM Coin will be backed by US Dollars in JPMorgan accounts and is closed-loop, in that, it will only be able to be used within the Chase ecosystem. The announcement has caused us at Flourish and K+H Connection to really discuss what branded currency can mean outside of retail- we think it is a sign of things to come.
If large banks are operating on distributed ledger to facilitate payments within their own closed networks; it means there might be new options in payment processing for gift card; with a new level of security.
Of course these are not the only things happening in blockchain and crypto in our industry.
Flexa, Bitcoin Gift Card and Pangea have all been blending gift card and the world of crypto as well.
Flexa is developing a platform for spending cryptocurrency in stores and we expect to have them announce more on this platform in the coming months.
Bitcoin Gift Card makes it possible to gift bitcoin to people. Gifting Bitcoin is not easy; but our friends there have made it a very simple process.
Chicago-based Pangea has been working with an undisclosed gift card processor for years to enable their cross border money transfers, while also layering in blockchain and crypto to make the transfers faster and more secure.
Last year, I had a blast talking with Crypto 101 about why I think branded currency offers the perfect environment for the adoption of blockchain technology for payments. Take a listen to hear more on this topic, and join us at Flourish 2019 where topics like blockchain and crypto for gift cards are on our exciting agenda of cutting edge topics for the branded currency industry.