In Tuesday’s edition of The Daily we cover stories about an electronic gift card program that Coinbase is extending to the U.S. market, new job offerings from Facebook that hint at the company’s blockchain plans, and an investment in the field from Unicef.
Also Read: US Law Professor: Confusing Cryptocurrency Regulations Will Hamper Innovation
Coinbase Extends Wegift Partnership to the US
Coinbase has announced that its trading platform now offers e-gift cards for its customers in the U.S. This means that American users will be able to instantly spend their cryptocurrency balances from the exchange with dozens of new retailers. The development has been achieved by expanding its partnership with the London-based startup Wegift, which supports many well-known brands such as Nike, Tesco, Uber, Google Play, Ticketmaster and Zalando.
Coinbase informed its users that purchasing e-gift cards incurs no withdrawal fees and that bonuses of up to 10 percent make it “smoother than ever to use crypto. Now, you’re just a few clicks away from spending your balance on e-gifts cards for Adidas shoes or your next vacation. Better yet, use some on the holidays — you’re just in time.”
Facebook to Develop Equitable Financial Services?
At the start of 2018, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg set a goal for himself to take back power from centralized systems using “encryption and cryptocurrency.” While the year is nearly over and this resolution remains unfulfilled, his company appears to still be focused on the subject. Recently surfaced ads show that Facebook is looking for data scientists and software engineers to help develop new blockchain solutions, possibly including financial services.
The company explains to potential candidates that: “At Facebook, we have established a new team building blockchain technologies. It’s a small, fast-growing, but
