Bitcoin-friendly platform Gyft gets investment of $5 million and expands to new countries with cryptocurrency’s help

Gyft just can’t stop surprising us. The company turned into a Bitcoin sweetheart in May and has been announcing new services connected to the world of cryptocurrency ever since. But there’s more good news: the digital platform that enables users to buy and send gift cards via mobile devices just secured an investment of $5 million.

The investors include A-Grade Investments – co-founded by the actor Ashton Kutcher, a huge Bitcoin supporter -, Social+Capital Partnership, Karlin Ventures, David O. Sacks and Haas Portman.

We invest in technology start-ups, like Gyft that show innovation and promise. There is a mobile shift and Gyft is on a mission to digitize the $100B gift card market.

Ashton Kutcher

 And what are Gyft’s plans for this money? According to a press release, the company intends to develop the business in order to meet future demand for growth. “Gyft currently works with more than 300 retailers and will keep adding merchants and partners, even expanding to markets outside the United States next year”, the document adds.

Here is where Bitcoin comes in. Vinny Lingham, Gyft’s CEO, reveals that “part of the international expansion is to countries where there’s a high risk associated with accepting credit cards and where Bitcoins are taking off“. Lingham explains that “these customers would be able to use their Bitcoins, purchase gift cards and then make purchases for items previously not available to them”.

Gyft has been growing steadily and this millionaire investment will only push things up, for sure. In the past year only, more than $10 million and 200,000 plastic gift cards were uploaded to the platform. Currently, the digital platform is registering a new gift card added every two minutes.

“Over the past year, we’ve seen continued growth and are on track to hit $5 million in digital gift card sales this year”, says Vinny Lingham, adding that “traditionally more than 50 percent of annual gift card sales occur in the fourth quarter so we are excited about the future”.

Bitcoin Examiner recently published an interview with Gyft’s CEO, Vinny Lingham, that you can check here.