Cryptocurrencies

Cash Back App Slide Adds Crypto Payment Support Via BitPay

In recent months, cryptocurrencies have continued to creep into the mainstream consiousness. This includes a growing number of integrations allowing consumers to actually spend Bitcoin and other assets instead of merely holding them for investment reasons. The latest example of this is Slide, which is now partnering with BitPay to give users the chance to pay for gift cards using crypto.

Slide is a mobile app from Raise Marketplace where consumers can purchase gift cards for select brands and then redeem them right from their phone — all while earning cashback. Among the brands currently featured are quick-service restaurants, such as Chipotle, Dominos, Burger King, and Panera; retailers including Ulta, Famous Footwear, and REI; and even travel brands like Southwest. When purchasing these gift cards, users can either enter the exact amount of their upcoming purchase or stock up on funds ahead of time. In either case, all gift card purchases currently yield customers 4% cashback, which they can withdraw to Venmo or PayPal once they’ve accrued at least $15.

Now, with the addition of BitPay, Slide users will be able to tap their crypto holdings instead of relying on a debit or credit card. Specifically, users will be able to add funds to their Slide account using BitPay before making a purchase but, currently, cannot use this option directly at checkout. However, this method (pre-loading funds in general) does yield customers an extra 1% cashback on their purchase. For BitPays part, they support Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, XRP and Ether as well as USDC, GUSD, PAX and BUSD stablecoins.

Commenting on the partnership and the timing of the new feature, Raise Marketplace Jay Klauminzer CEO stated, “With Slide, crypto users can spend their funds on everyday items and holiday gifts from brands that don’t traditionally accept crypto. With a rise in bitcoin usage and value, we chose BitPay to manage processing of crypto payments because they handle the entire process of getting crypto from the customer and depositing cash into our account.” Meanwhile, BitPay Chief Commercial Officer Sonny Singh said of working with Slide, “Crypto offers merchants like Slide a huge opportunity to attract new customers and sales, and with the recent run up in the value of bitcoin, we are expecting a significant jump in spending for the holiday season as it’s a great time to add crypto as a payment option.”

Incidentally, PayPal — whose PayPal Ventures is among Raise Marketplace’s investors — recently had a crypto expansion of its own. Last month, the peer to peer payment giant rolled out features allowing customers to buy, sell, hold, and pay with various crypto assets. As PayPal president and CEO Dan Schulman said at the time, “The shift to digital forms of currencies is inevitable, bringing with it clear advantages in terms of financial inclusion and access; efficiency, speed and resilience of the payments system; and the ability for governments to disburse funds to citizens quickly. Our global reach, digital payments expertise, two-sided network, and rigorous security and compliance controls provide us with the opportunity, and the responsibility, to help facilitate the understanding, redemption and interoperability of these new instruments of exchange.”

Even as Bitcoin manages to break through to a new record high (sitting above $20,000 as of this writing), it seems that cryptocurrencies are moving beyond being a rogue investment play. Instead, integrations such as Slide’s partnership with BitPay will sure help make cryptocurrencies into the payment tool they were originally intended to be. As we head in 2021, expect many more expansions of this nature as the world reconsiders the nature of payments.

Other Articles by Jonathan Dyer