UK-based cryptocurrency gift card retailer Pock.io has announced its international expansion to Germany and France, with more EU countries to come in the weeks ahead.
The move means that bitcoin and altcoin users in those countries can shop at retailers not yet accepting digital currencies.
"Services like ours, which support cryptocurrencies, add usefulness and legitimacy to these new technologies and will ultimately drive these ecosystems forwards in France, Germany and other countries," CEO Bradley Roberts told CoinDesk.
Initially, the platform opens up companies such as Amazon.fr and Amazon.de, Steam and Skype to European mainland cryptocurrency consumers. However, Roberts added that the company has ambitions to become the "go-to place" for users looking to buy gift cards with cryptocurrencies across the globe.
UK retailer list grows
Pock.io also announced today that it has added a number of new retailers to its UK platform.
The firm now boasts 177 retailers accessible from Britain, such as Amazon, the Google Play store, Marks & Spencer and Spotify. Big-name new additions to its roster include Ryan Air, American Apparel, H Samuel and Zynga.
Along with the addition of extra gift cards, Pock.io has also improved its platform, cutting the order wait time. Orders can now be processed after just one confirmation on the bitcoin network, meaning that cards are delivered much sooner.
Additionally, the checkout process has been simplified to make buying with cryptocurrencies a more user friendly experience.
"Once you’ve got to grips with how to buy bitcoin in the first place, spending it is as easy as it would be at any other online store," said Roberts.
He added:
"Pockio’s service is fast and getting faster as we’ve worked very hard to reduce delivery times for gift cards. This has been a really important factor for our customers ... Eventually we want to be able to say that you will be able to buy absolutely anything you normally would with bitcoin."
Bridging the gap
Launched in January 2014, Pock.io was, at the time, the first British service to exchange retailer gift cards for digital currencies. Notably its original roster of eight cryptocurrencies accepted has now increased to 15, including dogecoin, litecoin and feathercoin, along with bitcoin.
While there are a number of US-based cryptocurrency gift card companies, such as Gyft and eGifter, the European market is still very small, with just the likes of Crypto de Change preventing Pock.io having the region all to itself.
Roberts said: "It is early days for many countries, but we firmly believe that bitcoin and the technology behind it is revolutionary. The financial industry is ripe for disruption, so adoption of these new currencies is only a matter of time."