Crypto peer-to-peer platform NoOnes has revealed plans to expand its gift card trading architecture in a bid to build what it describes as one of the largest marketplaces for exchanging retail vouchers for digital assets.

The initiative would connect more than 10,000 global and regional brands within its peer-to-peer ecosystem, where users can directly trade gift cards for crypto assets instantly.

The crypto super app explained that the expansion is a direct response to growing demand for alternative financial rails, especially in regions where access to traditional banking, CEXs, and payment rails remains limited.

Globally, gift cards represent one of the largest retail payment categories.

Gift card sales in 2025 surpassed $1.2 trillion and are expected to cross $2.3 trillion by 2030.

While most gift cards are still used for everyday purchases, they have also become an alternative way to purchase cryptocurrencies, especially in the global south, where access to financial services is either fragmented, limited, or restricted.

Peer-to-peer trading networks facilitate the direct exchange of gift card codes for digital assets without the need for centralized entities such as banks or crypto exchanges.

Gift card trading already accounts for over 10% of the NoOnes platform trading activity.

The platform currently supports over 300 brands and 783 gift card types covering categories such as retail, gaming, travel, and digital entertainment.

The expansion would substantially increase the number of supported brands, adding thousands of international and regional retailers, including companies such as Amazon, Nike, IKEA, Steam, and PlayStation whose coupons, cards and vouchers can be securely traded for crypto assets through the platform’s peer-to-peer escrow system. 

The link between gift cards and crypto assets emerged organically in early peer-to-peer markets during the onset of blockchain systems and networks.

Gift cards were used as a workaround to the prevalent financial system, and they quickly evolved into a functioning cross-border trading system.

By 2020, weekly gift card trading volumes had reached tens of millions of dollars.

Gift cards proved particularly useful in the African and Asian markets because they do not require bank accounts and can easily be purchased in retail stores and transferred digitally through simple code exchanges.  

Despite the growth of gift-card trading, the market remains very fragmented.

Prices often vary based on local demand, geographic location, and the liquidity of individual trading communities and platforms.

To address this issue, NoOnes plans to introduce a dynamic pricing engine that aggregates supply and demand data across regions and generates an indicative market rate for widely traded voucher categories.

The company also intends to launch wholesale trading tools for professional traders and liquidity providers.

Part of this novel infrastructure and tools are already in the beta testing phase. 

The growing intersection between gift cards and digital assets suggests that retail payment instruments could play a larger role in the crypto economy in the coming years and become a more structured layer of value exchange within the global Web 3 industry.

In many regions around the world, vouchers already function as a practical bridge between the retail systems and digital financial networks.

Users can now convert gift cards into cryptocurrencies, which can be used for savings, payment, and international transfers.

Some European retailers have started to sell crypto-denominated vouchers and coupons.

These developments indicate that these models may evolve gradually into a financial concord that connects retail commerce and digital assets, formalising a market that was largely developed by informal trading. 

NoOnes plans to roll out the expanded marketplace over the next year to its over 2 million users in 180 countries.

The company says it expects to add more than 1,000 new brands before the end of the year. 

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