Digital Gifting Network Swych Unveils Blockchain-Powered Shopping Platform

A digital gifting platform has unveiled its blockchain-powered global gifting and shopping marketplace that is designed to provide high performance and instant settlements.

The company is Swych, a mobile gifting platform that enables consumers and businesses to send “swychable” gifts from their mobile device, which can be redeemed for electronic gift cards from over 600 popular brands. Some of these include Nike, Bed Bath & Beyond, Nordstrom, and Kohl’s.

Through its network, Swych offers cross-border person-to-person or business-to-consumer gifting. According to the platform, any gift sent through Swych can be “swyched,” redeemed, and spent at any retailer on the network.

“While the world has become increasingly interconnected since the arrival of the internet, the process of sending a gift – and in particular across countries – has remained stagnant with few and unimaginative choices, shipping hurdles and overall customer dissatisfaction,” said Deepak Jain, CEO and founder of Swych.

Now in its mission to create the global standard for digital gifting, Swych has announced its advancement to a blockchain-based platform. Building on the Stellar Network, the platform’s blockchain elements will operate in the background. This means that users will be able to send, redeem, and “swych” digital gift cards without any prior knowledge of the technology, while maintaining security, transaction speeds, and the flexibility of the gifting platform.

“Our blockchain-powered platform will bring long overdue innovation to the $400b gifting market, now expected to grow to $700b by 2024, by making each gift a perfect one for recipients while eliminating loss of value through any fees or foreign exchange conversions,” Jain added.

Even though the gift card industry remains a popular option for many around the world – increasing, on average, around five to 10 per cent year-over-year in the past decade, plastic gift cards are suggestive of fraud and inflexibility. Not only that traditional plastic gift cards don’t always scale across borders, with many simply forgotten at the back of drawers.

Realising the potential of the blockchain, Swych’s integration with the technology allows new horizons for cross-border gifting, in addition to a number of exciting new use cases such as employee incentives, easy access to merchant offers, loyalty redemption, and frictionless travel shopping.

“By using the Stellar Network, Swych enables instant and secure purchases redeemable with any of their retail partners across the globe,” said Lisa Nestor, director of partnerships of the Stellar Development Foundation. “Swych is leading the way forward in the gifting industry by integrating blockchain technology and we’re excited to see how the industry will continue to evolve.”