Startup BuyAnyCoin (BAC) wants to hang a prepaid crypto card next to prepaid phone and debit cards in convenience stores. They're currently holding an Indiegogo fundraiser, hoping to raise US$10,000 for merchant outreach and continued backend development.
Thor Thurneau, BAC founder, writes:
“Imagine this: You walk in to your local convenience store, grab a drink and head to the register. In your peripheral vision you catch a glance of a card on the counter that says BuyAnyCoin Voucher. You ask the cashier about the card. She tells you, 'You just redeem it at their website for any of the popular digital currencies like bitcoin'.”
BAC cards would be available for credit and debit purchases, naturally, but they'd also be available for cash, which Thurneau hopes will attract the unbanked.
Once a customer purchases a BAC card, they can log in to BAC's website and select the cryptocurrency they'd like to redeem it for. BuyAnyCoin Beta currently supports Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ripple, but has plans to support more currencies such as Dash, Nxt, and BitShares.
Thurneau continues:
“With BuyAnyCoin's marketing strategy, the average individual is finally given direct physical access to a virtual product. This is the best gateway to adoption, giving the customer something they already know and connecting it to something they want to use — digital currency.”
BuyAnyCoin's Indiegogo fundraiser will end on July 3. Potential donors take note: no cryptocurrency address is posted for receiving donations. BuyAnyCoin can be tweeted for donation address requests.
Back in January, over 24,000 South Korea’s convenience stores including 7eleven began selling bitcoin gift cards as part of South Korean exchange Coinplug’s project.