You can buy Bitcoin with a gift card, but the number of options on the market is very limited. In addition, you will often have to buy Bitcoin with a gift card from an individual seller, which means you’ll have to be wary of scam attempts.
In this article, we’ll highlight the ways in which you can buy Bitcoin with a gift card. We’ll also feature some alternatives for purchasing Bitcoin that are similar to using gift cards.
Key highlights:
- The only way to buy Bitcoin with a gift card is to use a P2P (peer-to-peer) crypto marketplace.
- When using P2P marketplaces to buy Bitcoin with a gift card, you should expect the value of the Bitcoin you receive to be substantially lower than the face value of your gift card.
- Buying Bitcoin using a gift card is one of the least efficient ways of buying BTC, so we recommend using alternative options if possible.
How to buy Bitcoin with a gift card?
The only viable way to buy Bitcoin with a gift card is to use a P2P (peer-to-peer) cryptocurrency marketplace. On such marketplaces, users who want gift cards can list offers to buy gift cards using Bitcoin. You can sell your gift cards to these users to receive BTC (although typically at a big premium). This is because gift cards are not as useful as money, so you’ll get less Bitcoin if you’re buying it with a gift card instead of using fiat currency.
Before we proceed, we should highlight that there isn’t a lot of liquidity when it comes to buying Bitcoin with gift cards. In many cases, you’ll have to search through multiple P2P marketplaces to find a seller that’s willing to buy the type of gift card you have. Even if you do find a seller, you might not be willing to sell your gift card at the rate they are offering. In any case, you should expect to receive much less than the face value of your gift card.
Paxful
Paxful is a leading P2P crypto marketplace that supports a huge number of payment options, including gift cards. Paxful makes it easy to find offers based on cryptocurrency, payment method, and the amount of money you want to spend. As part of its peer-to-peer trading service, Paxful holds cryptocurrency in escrow accounts until the transaction’s terms are fulfilled. Once the buyer’s payment is completed and confirmed by the seller, the seller releases the funds from escrow, signaling the successful completion of the trade.
CoinCola
CoinCola is a P2P cryptocurrency trading platform that provides a feature where users can exchange gift cards for crypto. You can use CoinCola to buy Bitcoin with a gift card, and the platform also supports a number of other options for buying Bitcoin with a gift card. You can buy BTC, ETH or USDT using the CoinCola marketplace.
Noones
Noones is a P2P cryptocurrency trading platform where you can purchase Bitcoin using a gift card (and a broad range of other payment methods). To explore offers accepting gift cards, users can select the “Gift Cards (Miscellaneous Retailers)” payment option, which will display a list of relevant offers.
BitValve
The BitValve P2P marketplace allows users to buy cryptocurrency directly from others using a large selection of payment methods. This also includes gift cards, although you have to ensure that the buyer is accepting the specific type of gift card you’re looking to sell. You can easily filter through various offers by specifying the type of gift card you’re looking to sell for Bitcoin.
Bitcoin and gift cards
Now, let’s quickly explore a few topics related to buying Bitcoin with a gift card to give you an idea of all the options available on the market.
Buy Bitcoin using a prepaid card
If you have a prepaid card, you can use it to buy Bitcoin on a variety of platforms. One of the best platforms to do so is Binance, which is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of trading volume and number of users. Binance accepts prepaid Visa and Mastercard cards, and allows you to buy a wide variety of cryptocurrencies in addition to Bitcoin.
If you want to learn more about this way of purchasing BTC, make sure to take a look at our complete guide on how to buy Bitcoin with a prepaid card.
Buy a Bitcoin gift card
If you know someone who likes cryptocurrency or want to introduce a friend to the world of crypto, you can buy a Bitcoin gift card for them.
This feature is also offered by Binance. Through Binance, you can create customized gift cards that can be redeemed for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, Dogecoin and more. As long as you and the recipient both have a Binance account, these cards can also be used to transfer crypto without any transaction fees.
Buy a gift card with Bitcoin
Platforms like BitRefill and CoinsBee make it possible for users to purchase a wide variety of gift cards with cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin. In addition, you can also use these platforms to top-up your mobile phone by paying with Bitcoin.
Such platforms make it very simple to spend your Bitcoin for practical purchases. You can use BTC to get gift cards that will allow you to purchase video games, clothing, subscriptions, electronics, mobile apps and much more.
The bottom line – Buying Bitcoin with a gift card is possible, but hard to recommend
While you can buy Bitcoin with a gift card on some platforms, it’s arguably one of the worst ways to buy Bitcoin. This is because you will usually get a low rate, receiving significantly less Bitcoin than the face value of your gift card. In most cases, you’ll have to work with individual sellers on P2P marketplaces, which is less convenient than buying crypto through a standard cryptocurrency exchange. On top of that, it’s difficult to find relevant offers, as there’s usually only a handful of users interested in gift cards on P2P marketplaces.
Instead of using a gift card, we recommend using another method of buying Bitcoin if possible. One of the most efficient ways to do so is buying Bitcoin with your bank account.