Businesses with the alleged potential to become the next Google are plentiful in Bitcoin-land, but finding actual commercial success is a lot harder. The best example of a commercial success is gift card company Gyft that became known as the first place to give access to a wide range of merchants for bitcoin holders and later achieved the largest exit so far in the crypto space in an acquisition by payments company First Data.
Gyft CTO joined us to talk about how he got involved in FinTech, what makes gift cards so interesting and how recently Gyft has been trying to reinvent gift cards by using the power of the blockchain.
Topics covered in this episode:
Giyom’s early involvement in FinTech in the early 2000s
His previous projects Bernal Bucks and Credibles that explored gift cards and alternative currencies
Why gift cards are a great place for financial innovation
The mechanics of gift cards today and why their security is broken
How Gyft Block can improve the security of gift cards using the blockchain
Why Gyft moved their gift cards off the Bitcoin blockchain onto private blockchains
Giyom’s view on the utility of Bitcoin and private blockchains
Episode links:
Giyom's blog
Gyft’s Giyom Lebleu: Following Linux ‘The Most Likely Path for Bitcoin’ [CoinJournal]
Future of Money Interview. Part I. On Credibles and owning digital currencies issued by brands you love
Gyft
Payments giant First Data acquires Gyft in an effort to bring digital gift cards to the masses [Pando]
Gift Block
Bernal Bucks
Credibles
This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/104