A new start up, Bitit, is trying to give the average person a way to buy bitcoins through a gift card that can be redeemed for the digital currency. In an interview, the founder said he was inspired by a conversation with his grandmother.
Few months ago, when I talked to my Grandma about Bitcoin, she said she would buy some when it would be easy to do so.
At this time I found no solution so we understood that if we want the Bitcoin going mainstream, the normal consumers need solutions different than the usual Bitcoin Exchange. I mean something that they can understand.
That’s why we think the Bitit gift cards are a good solution. Buying with a credit card and one email address in order to get your bitcoin in less than 10 minutes. The offer is simple and easy to grasp.
The offer is relatively simple in concept, but it has a registration process and fee that the author of the article sees as hurdles to adoption. However, what is left out is the concept of acceptance. Right now, bitcoin is still essentially a foreign currency everywhere. This means that prepaid or no, there is a constant currency exchange risk for buyers and sellers when transacting in bitcoin. Despite having a prepaid value in buying the card, there is no guarantee that the value of the bitcoin will remain the same once the card is redeemed.
The other issue facing the average grandmother that the founder wants to reach is that there are not enough places to use bitcoin to make it a compelling proposition. The value needs to stabilize and the acceptance needs to grow before this kind of idea can really take off.
Overview by Ben Jackson, Director, Prepaid Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
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