Purse connects Bitcoin holders with Amazon shoppers wanting a discount. The matchmaking works through gift card trading. When Bitcoin Uncensored's Chris DeRose sat down with Purse CEO Andrew Lee, they
Purse connects Bitcoin holders with Amazon shoppers wanting a discount. The matchmaking works through gift card trading. When Bitcoin Uncensored's Chris DeRose sat down with Purse CEO Andrew Lee, they explored a question haunting the startup: What stops Amazon from killing the operation?
Some doubters assume Amazon sees Purse as a threat. Unused gift cards that never turn into purchases look like pure profit for Amazon, so the logic goes. But Lee has a different take. Amazon pays state-level escheatment taxes on dormant gift cards. After a certain period, customers can't redeem them, and the state collects. Those taxes cut into Amazon's windfall from dead balances.
Lee has worked with people in Amazon's payment, affiliate, and development departments. His read on the situation: "We have a pretty good relationship with most people in all those groups." He mentioned something else. Amazon employees discuss Purse on a Slack channel dedicated to Bitcoin. "We deliver products to Amazon employees all the time," he added.
The technical reality protects Purse's model. "There isn't some kind of service that we sign up for on Amazon that enables us to do [what we do]," Lee explained. Wish lists sit in the open as public URLs. Retailers use them for wedding registries. That structure means Amazon has no switch to flip.
DeRose raised a wrinkle: Amazon could run a technical cat-and-mouse game, blocking Purse's IP addresses. Lee acknowledged the possibility but noted that wish lists offer Purse users something they value. "People don't necessarily want to share their addresses with others, even though they do on platforms like eBay or even Amazon," he said. "But one of the huge benefits of using bitcoin and saving on Purse is that it's actually more private. We don't even know your address."
The interview touched on another scenario. What if Amazon started accepting Bitcoin payments? "I don't think people shop on Purse because they don't have access to Amazon," Lee replied. "They shop on Purse because there's a discount . . . My sense is that if Amazon were to accept bitcoin, that'd be huge, international news. And as a result, we'd get quite a PR bump from that."
Discounts drive Purse's appeal, not Bitcoin adoption. The service would retain its value even if Amazon added cryptocurrency payments.
