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Fold App, Niantic To Launch New AR Bitcoin Earning Experience
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Leading Bitcoin Rewards App Fold To Go Full Lightning In 2022
Bitcoin rewards company, Fold, is going full on Lightning by the end of 2022 and has partnered with OpenNode to start the process soon.
In a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine, bitcoin rewards app giant Fold confirmed that they have committed to integrating Lightning Network support by the end of 2022.
This is an effort to support the growth of the Lightning Network, a second-layer scaling solution, which is proving to be vital in bitcoin’s journey to becoming a medium of exchange (MoE). Lightning allows for low fee off-chain transactions and near instant micropayment processing, in addition to greater privacy.
With Fold integrating the Lightning Network, this will bring many new users into the mix. Fold currently has over 500,000 mobile app users with many for whom this will be their first experience using Lightning, after already being exposed to the benefits of bitcoin rewards.
“We are continuing our tradition of moving the space towards Lightning as we did before in the early days with Lightning Pizza. By incentivizing users to use Lightning and opt to receive their rewards in a Lightning wallet, we are bootstrapping LN adoption,” said Fold CEO Will Reeves.
To help make this possible, Fold struck a partnership with BTC payment processor, OpenNode, to help jumpstart this transition over to Lightning. This partnership will allow Fold users to withdraw their bitcoin rewards to their own Lightning wallet, available within the “coming weeks.” The release stated that on-chain transactions will only remain available for a limited time.
“We’re really excited to partner with Fold to drive Bitcoin adoption and Lightning Network usage through better payments experiences. OpenNode will power bitcoin payouts for Fold, enabling Fold users to withdraw the bitcoin they earn instantly, and at the lowest cost possible. We look forward to working with Fold to make many more improvements to the way people earn, transfer, and pay with bitcoin,” said OpenNode co-founder and CTO João Almeida.
Fold Launches First-Ever AR With Free Bitcoin Rewards Experience
Fold is a bitcoin rewards app providing a gift card platform used to help spend bitcoin in the real world. The app offers bitcoin cashback via its Visa debit card and mobile application. Its customers can earn bitcoin on everything they do: spending, saving, and investing.
Cardholders can win up to 100% back on every purchase, or even a whole bitcoin. It was founded in 2014 by Chris Martin, Corbin Pon, Matt Luongo, Will Reeves. The leading bitcoin rewards and payments app, Fold, made an announcement yesterday.
Fold Unveils AR Bitcoin Rewards Experience
In recent years, gamification in crypto has been on the rise. In this press release, the company announced that its augmented reality feature is launching alongside a free plan for their Bitcoin Rewards Debit Card. Fold’s augmented reality feature allows users to earn bitcoin and in-app benefits by exploring their physical surroundings. The popular bitcoin rewards startup is using AR in a bid to make crypto fun for the masses. “Instead of finding rare creatures in the world around you, like in the hit game Pokemon Go, Fold users will now be able to discover and collect bitcoin around them.”
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Will Reeves, Fold CEO, stated, “The Fold AR feature provides a fun, interactive way for consumers to earn rewards in bitcoin for their everyday spending. So many people are interested in participating in the growing bitcoin economy but aren’t sure how to get started. Fold makes it easy for anyone to get their first piece of bitcoin, whether it’s through Fold AR via the app or the Fold card.”
Later this month, users will be able to access the AR experience for a limited time every day. The app will give away approximately $100,000 worth of bitcoin during the current beta period. But according to Reeves, the number would fluctuate in future months depending on sponsorship and user interaction levels.
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Likening the new launch to Pokemon Go, Fold’s Head of Design, Rachel Mersky, commented: “Pokemon Go was a phenomenon, it was really the first of its kind to bring augmented reality into the homes & lives of everyday people, turning the whole physical world into a game arena. We always say we want to meet our users where they are, whether they are bitcoin maximalists or curious newbies. What better way to do that than to literally bring bitcoin to wherever they are — and make earning and stacking sats fun?”
Bitcoin trails $45,000 with market decline | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com
Free Debit Card Activation
The company also announced the removal of all signup and activation fees associated with their Spin (formerly Intro) debit card. It stated that “All US residents can now get started with the Fold Card for free by signing up for the Spin tier that rewards up to 25% back in bitcoin on every purchase.”
Featured image from CryptoSlate, Chart from TradingView.com
Fold Opens Access To Sats-Back Debit Card, Announces $13 Million Series A
Bitcoin rewards platform Fold has opened access to its bitcoin rewards debit card and announced a $13 million fundraising round.
Bitcoin rewards app Fold has announced that its sats-back debit card is now accessible to all U.S. residents.
“Instead of offering points or airline miles typically found in most card programs, Fold provides bitcoin rewards through a gamified experience that emphasizes healthy financial habits,” according to a release shared with Bitcoin Magazine. “Fold cardholders can earn variable rewards by spinning a rewards wheel after each qualifying purchase, like earning 100% of their purchase back in bitcoin, or even winning a whole bitcoin, which ten users have done to date.”
The waitlist for the card has been open since last year. Since Fold launched in 2019, it has built a waitlist of more than 250,000 waiting for access to the card, per the release. More than 20,000 cardholders participated in an early access program that saw $100 million transacted since November 2020.
Fold also announced the conclusion of a $13 million series A fundraise led by Craft Ventures, with participation from M13, Slow Ventures and Bessemer. The company will be using the capital to build out its rewards platform so that any credit or debit card in the country could offer its users bitcoin rewards. And it expects to offer a bitcoin rewards credit card by the end of the year.
“We’ve pioneered bitcoin rewards to make bitcoin accessible to everyone,” said Fold CEO Will Reeves, according to the release. “Between the appreciation of bitcoin and our generous rewards, people have earned more money in their Fold rewards account over the last few months than they have in the savings accounts they’ve been building for years.”
Bitcoin whales silently coming into the fold… There isn’t enough bitcoin for all these people. What does that mean? Math 101.
#Bitcoin whales silently coming into the fold…
There isn’t enough bitcoin for all these people.
What does that mean?
Math 101. https://t.co/JLpjaH69wf
Is @AmexBusiness planning on letting visa run all the bitcoin rewards cards? When do they get off their ass and JOIN THE PARTY! Visa is currently the goat 🐐 BTC @BlockFi @fold_app @cryptocom AMEX AMEXPLATINUM
Is @AmexBusiness planning on letting visa run all the #bitcoin rewards cards?
When do they get off their ass and JOIN THE PARTY!
#Visa is currently the goat 🐐
#BTC
@BlockFi @fold_app @cryptocom #AMEX #AMEXPLATINUM https://t.co/GYajwdZgQK
Anyone get a @fold_app card yet? bitcoin
Anyone get a @fold_app card yet? #bitcoin https://t.co/Yqp2RNJIec