Gyft co-founder: Bitcoin is still just a commodity at this stage

When digital gift card platform Gyft first integrated Bitcoin payments, it offered a 10% discount to customers who paid with Bitcoin, while customers who paid with PayPal or credit cards had to pay the remaining 10%. However, that didn’t last long. According to Vinny Lingham, the company’s co-founder and CEO, that has all changed.

The California-based company integrated Bitcoin payments in 2013, initially believing that Bitcoin payments would be a trend, but today, the payment methods that can enjoy a 10% discount have been replaced by PayPal and credit cards. Despite this, Lingham is still fascinated by Bitcoin.

In fact, it was Lingham’s personal fascination with digital currencies that led Gyft to accept Bitcoin as a payment method.

Lingham told CoinDesk:

“The reason the company started accepting bitcoin for gift cards is because I’m a bit of a bitcoin fanatic.”

Lingham also noted that integrating Bitcoin has been instrumental in the company’s growth, noting that the company received a lot of media attention following its decision to embrace it.

“A lot of people accepted Bitcoin because of the publicity and started using Gyft,” he added.

Bitcoin as a commodity

Although Bitcoin payment has been practiced for a long time, in Lingham's eyes, Bitcoin cannot be called a currency at present.

“The reason is that it’s not stable yet, you can’t put a price on it… right now it’s being used as a medium of exchange, similar to gold,” he said.

According to him, Bitcoin will become a currency when its supply and demand reach equilibrium and its industrial use cases are discovered.

“The demand for Bitcoin is an unknown quantity, but there is a lot of speculation, so the price volatility is very intense, which is why there is so much uncertainty in the Bitcoin world,” he added.

Despite his initial pessimistic views, he remained positive when discussing the price of the digital currency, saying he believed it could reach $10,000.

Lingham said:

“Yes, it will get there, it may take five years, but it will get there, and when it gets there, it will be a very stable asset, so its price volatility will be very low. I think we will get there, and eventually Bitcoin will be a currency, we’re just not close to that point yet.”

For Lingham, Bitcoin is currently just a commodity.

Blockchain: A public database

Regarding blockchain technology, Lingham’s opinion is:

“There are so many potential use cases for blockchain technology that I don’t know where to start. I personally see a lot of opportunities in identity, property ownership, stock market trading, and decentralized securities trading.”

He said other companies that provide gift card services store the data in their own proprietary databases.

“Why does it have to be this way? Why can’t this information be stored on a public ledger or a public database? Then anyone who has the gift card can access their data,” he added.

Such an option would be cheaper, more secure and provide a better user experience, he said.

The company is understood to have partnered with API development company Chain to create its own Gyft Block platform, which makes full use of blockchain technology.

Regarding Gyft Block, Lingham concluded that the company demonstrates how neutral blockchain technology can be used to track sensitive data as well as financial data.

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