Swapping Starbucks credit for Bitcoins

Virtual currency has been making the news recently and now it seems you can get into web-based finances through your Starbucks gift cards.

Bitcoin, and similar forms of tender, haven’t exactly kept a low profile recently. The story that brought e-commerce to the forefront of the mainstream agenda was, shall we say, less than legal with its associations with some darker areas of the web and a few days ago it transpired that some key players in the Bitcoin community were arrested and charged with a number of offences including money laundering and operating an unlicensed transmitting business.

However for every negative story, there has been some genuinely positive and amusing ones. There is the story of a British user who trashed a hard drive, forgetting that it held more than $6m worth of Bitcoins after its value skyrocketed, and also the Vancouver coffee shop that installed a Bitcoin ready ATM. Many outlets and business are taking Bitcoin seriously as it grows in prominence.

For those unaware of Bitcoin and other forms of cryptocurrency, the currency is one that is peer-to-peer based and is also devoid of any state backing. Yes, it has been used for illegal means, but it has also been utilised in really ingenious and interesting ways: a number of bricks-and-mortar stores have begun to accept it in recent months and when the Cypriot economy tumbled, many flocked to the e-currency to secure and protect their savings.

But for new users, entering this alien world can be a problem. However, a new service entitled Card for Coin has just been set up and is aiming to ease people into the world of virtual currencies.

Its founder is Matt Luongo, a twenty-five year-old software developer who co-founded the research search engine Scholrly and his scheme enables people to get Bitcoins by spending their Starbucks gift cards (though it should be noted that Starbucks are not officially affiliated with the site or the idea.)

The idea has been adapted from a similar campaign organised by the online coffee retailer Tonx who launched a service that allowed the exchange of the gift cards for their own in-store web-credit – Luongo ‘co-works’ with Tonks’ Scott Rocher.

To receive Bitcoins, customers simply enter their Starbucks card details into the site, the balance gets checked and then an offer is made. Once a price is agreed for the conversion and processing fees (commission as it is more commonly called), the virtual currency is transferred via Coinbase.

‘It’s a great way for beginners to get Bitcoin quickly – usually signing up at an exchange takes a while, but trading BTC for services or goods is much faster,’ Luongo told Digital Trends. ‘There’s no minimum balance on the card….that makes the value proposition better as well.’

The coffee shop culture has become a harbour for the tech culture and with a surge in popularity of cryptocurrency this idea seems a natural fit to allow the uninitiated and the interest a route into Bitcoins. If successful, gift cards from coffee retailers may not be the only store credit to be used.

picture credit: antanacoins (flickr, used under creative commons)