Recently, Shopee Head of Regional Marketing Agatha Soh sat down for an interview with Tech Wire Asia, where she answered questions about the company’s strategy for expansion, its focus on small businesses, and its plans for the immediate future.

SHOPEE MOVES INTO LAZADA’S PHILIPPINE E-COMMERCE TERRITORY

Simon Alvarez | 6 December, 2017

What makes Shopee perfect for small-and-medium scale business owners in the Philippines?

We want to make sure that we will be able to break down barriers for all entrepreneurs, regardless of the size of their business operations. We all know that Internet penetration is on the rise in Southeast Asia. We’re focusing on mobile, so even SMEs with very little infrastructure can grow and thrive.

One interesting trend in the region is the transition from offline to desktop to mobile shopping. This is something important. Mobile is more accessible. Thus, it’s very easy for entrepreneurs to sell their products.

For us, we believe a lot in the sellers. We want to make sure that we can cater to small businesses. In terms of the kind of support, we try to customize the solutions we provide as well.

ANALYZING MALAYSIA’S TOP E-COMMERCE PLAYERS OF 2017

Taylor Bragg | 2 January, 2018

What advantage does Shopee have over its competitors such as Lazada or Zalora?

First of all, our focus on mobile is significant. At Shopee, we have a laser-sharp focus on user experience for mobile customers and merchants. We believe this is the future and we have allocated resources for both buyers and sellers in this regard.

Along with this, we have a strong focus on localization. I don’t just mean tailoring our message for each market, either. Every market is so different in Southeast Asia. Thus, in any country, we provide localized support for buyers and sellers alike. We also make it a point to hire local talent for each country’s operations.

What security measures are in place for consumers? Does Shopee enforce sanctions on merchants? If so, when and how is this done?

Shopee takes this really seriously. If we want to provide a good user experience, we have to provide a good, secure system. We have a very big team in place that controls quality for all our listings. If there is an item that does not fulfill regulations, we might even ban the seller. We also have an ongoing effort to educate our merchants.

The concept of security is very important to us. We provide the Shopee Guarantee, an insurance-type offering for our buyers that has been very successful on our platform. This reduces any barriers or reservations in the minds of users. We have found that once users experience Shopee, they do not leave.

MAINSTREAM CASHLESS PAYMENTS FINALLY ARRIVE IN PHILIPPINES

Simon Alvarez | 23 January, 2018

One of the things customers love about Shopee is the fact customers can decide when merchants receive their payment? Is this feature unique to Shopee or was it inspired by another firm?

It’s something we partly modeled after successful businesses. However, we enhanced it, built it, and rolled it out over time. In countries that have not fully warmed up to the concept of online shopping, we focus on educating consumers and merchants on the benefits of e-commerce.

HOW OTHER E-RETAILERS CASHED IN ON ALIBABA’S ‘SINGLES’ DAY’ SALE

A. Azim Idris | 15 November, 2017

Shopee’s payment options are quite interesting in the way that a credit card option is unavailable. Will Shopee be open to the idea of using cryptocurrency-based payments in the future?

So far, we do not have plans for this [cryptocurrencies] yet. In the Philippines, we are still investing resources to develop our infrastructure. We are working on introducing other payment options in the near future, however.

What is Shopee’s primary target for 2018?

I think for 2018, we would like to be the No 1 online shopping destination in the Philippines. We would continue to focus on improving the product and user experience we offer by introducing new features. We would also aggressively expand our number of sellers to keep pace with the market landscape.

We want to focus on our sellers. Whether you’re big or small, we want to bring you online. There’s a lot of education to be done. We have to educate everyone and show how easy it is to use our platform.

The post Shopee insider reveals 2018 plans for Filipino SMEs appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

A number of the representatives of the Philippines’ Department of Finance (DOF) and Central Bank will be heading to China tomorrow to attend a program designed to boost the potential of the country’s local small businesses. During their trip, the delegation will be meeting Alibaba founder Jack Ma, before attending a series of lectures at Alibaba Business School.

The DOF and Central Bank delegates are expected to participate in a series of pertinent e-commerce-related lectures from 31 January to 2 February 2018.

AI A BIG THREAT TO HUMANS, SAYS ALIBABA FOUNDER JACK MA

Tech Wire Asia | 26 January, 2018

The program, which the Alibaba Business School states is specifically developed for the delegation, will cover a variety of topics, from using cashless payment methods, tapping entrepreneurs from the far reaches of the country, and developing a regulatory environment that fosters growth and progress for the nation’s MSMEs.

In a statement to Chinese state-backed news outlet Xinhua, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III stated that he is optimistic about what he and his colleagues would learn in Alibaba’s Business School. Dominguez serves as the leader of the delegation, and he is set to meet Alibaba founder Jack Ma on Thursday before heading off to Alibaba Business School for the three-day New Economy Workshop program.

“We will look at the financial regulations in China and explore how we can tap digital technologies to empower our micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), especially those in the countryside, the same way that Jack Ma did to help small enterprises in China gain a foothold in the global e-commerce industry,” Dominguez said, according to a Xinhua report.

ALIBABA’S JACK MA CHAMPIONS UN E-COMMERCE DRIVE FOR DEVELOPMENT

Reuters | 26 April, 2017

As for Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant stated that it is optimistic about the upcoming training of the delegates this week. According to the Jack Ma-led firm, the New Economy Workshop has several potential benefits for the developing Southeast Asian nation.

“(The workshop is) tailor-fitted to the Philippine setting (and) will incorporate firsthand experience with real-life e-commerce applications in an effort to provide a framework for creating a regulatory environment that encourages growth across the fintech (financial technology), logistics, e-commerce, and big data industries,” Alibaba Business School noted in a statement to Xinhua.

This is not the first time that members of the delegation have brushed shoulders with Alibaba. Late last year, Dominguez managed to spend some time with the Alibaba founder when the billionaire entrepreneur visited Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in Malacañang, the Chief Executive’s residence, as noted in a GMA News report. It was then that Ma extended his invitation to the Finance Secretary to visit China. During that time, Ma also expressed his desire to ensure an ‘enabling financial regulatory environment’ in the Philippines.

ALIBABA REACHES OUT TO INDONESIAN SMES AS PART OF GLOBAL BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION

Tech Wire Asia | 8 December, 2017

The Philippines is still in the process of embracing the digital transformation of small businesses, with many entrepreneurs across the country still unaware of the potential and benefits of doing business in the virtual landscape. Even recent technologies such as cashless payments are fairly new to both merchants and consumers in the Southeast Asian country. With this in mind, the lessons that will be learned by the delegation at the Alibaba Business School would likely result in benefits for the country’s MSMEs.

The post Alibaba Business School to help MSMEs go digital in the Philippines appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Online payments platform PayMaya recently announced a partnership with SM Malls, one of the biggest mall chains the Southeast Asian country.

PayMaya, which is owned by PLDT Inc., has been around for a while in the Philippines. Until its partnership with SM Malls, the digital payments platform has mostly been utilized as a service for online transactions only. By allying itself with SM Malls, PayMaya might finally be able to usher in what could very well be the country’s first step towards a mainstream cashless payment system.

PHILIPPINES: WESTERN UNION PARTNERS WITH LOCAL LOGISTICS FIRM TO BOOST ACCESS

Simon Alvarez | 24 October, 2017

In a recent statement to The Philippine Star, PayMaya Philippines President and Chief Executive Officer Orlando Vea noted that his firm’s collaboration with SM Malls is a huge step for the Philippines. Among countries in the Southeast Asian region, after all, the Philippines currently lags in the digital payments race, with most transactions still heavily dependent on cash and card-initiated operations.

In a lot of ways, PayMaya’s partnership with SM Malls makes sense. SM, after all, has long been one of PayMaya’s loading centers, where the platform’s users can top up their accounts for future purchases.

“SM has been an early partner of PayMaya as a load-up center for our customers, as well as a valued partner of our Smart Padala remittance service. This is a natural progression of our collaboration as we make it easier for our customers to use their PayMaya accounts anywhere they are in the country,” Vea said, according to the Star.

With PayMaya and SM’s collaboration in place, customers can now pay via their smartphones. Shoppers can simply open the PayMaya app on their Android or iOS devices and initiate the transaction by scanning a QR code displayed at the malls’ Mobile Pay lanes.

To further encourage consumers to take advantage of cashless payments, PayMaya and SM Malls have announced a 10 percent rebate for purchases up to PHP1,000 (around US$19.75) using the digital payment system. This rebate will be applicable until April 15, 2018.

PHILIPPINES: FINTECH INNOVATOR ACUDEEN TAKES HOME $500K GRAND PRIZE AT SEEDSTARS

Tech Wire Asia | 11 April, 2017

In a statement to Inquirer.net, The SM Store President Chelo Monasterio stated that its collaboration with the PLDT-owned digital payments platform is a valuable step towards the transformation of retail in the Philippines.

“The retail landscape is changing, and the SM Store is proud to lead the way with partners like PayMaya,” he said.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES ARE GAINING GROUND IN THE PHILIPPINES

Simon Alvarez | 17 October, 2017

While PayMaya is still pretty much starting its journey into mainstream retail in the Philippines, the digital payments platform has already managed to gain a considerable user base over the past few years.

In a country with very little credit card penetration, PayMaya provides Filipino shoppers a chance to engage in online transactions using virtual credit cards.

The post Mainstream cashless payments finally arrive in Philippines appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Lazada Indonesia Chief Marketing Officer Achmad Alkatiri said the new system, to be sourced from Alibaba, will be a big step towards the growth and development of the online shopping platform in the coming years.

SHOPEE MOVES INTO LAZADA’S PHILIPPINE E-COMMERCE TERRITORY

Simon Alvarez | 6 December, 2017

Achmad went on to say that details on the system will remain secret for now, although he confirmed that migration to the new payment gateway should be completed by March.

“I can’t disclose the details of the system yet, but we are in the process of migrating from Lazada’s technology to Alibaba’s at the moment,” Achmad said, according to The Jakarta Post.

Overall, the Lazada executive is incredibly optimistic about the opportunities Alibaba’s payment technology can bring. Alibaba, after all, currently dominates the e-commerce sphere in key Asian regions. As the e-commerce giant expands its reach, it has invested in many other online shopping platforms as well.

One of these is Lazada, which is, at the time of writing, 83 percent owned by the Chinese e-commerce behemoth. With this in mind, Lazada’s transition to an electronic payments system makes perfect sense.

LAZADA TO SHARE TIPS AND TRICKS WITH RETAILERS DURING ‘ONLINE REVOLUTION’

A. Azim Idris | 13 October, 2017

For Achmad, at least, the new system would likely benefit Lazada’s merchants, many of whom are small businesses that have partnered with the e-commerce platform over the years. With Alibaba’s tech in tow, Achmad believes it would not be long before Lazada sees a significant improvement in revenue for the company’s partner merchants.

“For 2018, we are focusing on the improvement of the user experience through the newly updated website and application, which tailors the layout according to an individual’s shopping behavior. We will also expand our #UpgradeUKM (a dedicated coaching program) to 29 cities this year,” he said in a statement to the Post.

Lazadians yg di Bekasi apa kabarnyaaaa? Saatnya #LazadaMenyapa Bekasi nih!

Mau ikutan?? Langsung aja daftar di link ini sekarang yaaa! > https://t.co/oxUtZJ5i6a
Sampai ketemu minggu depan! 🙂#LazadaID #UpgradeUKMRoadshow pic.twitter.com/2LE0p0jYOH

— Lazada.co.id (@LazadaID) January 19, 2018

#UpgradeUKM, together with other programs such as the National Online Sales Month (Bujonas) initiative, are part of Lazada’s dedicated programs for small business owners. As noted in an AsiaOne report, Bujonas had proven to be quite a success last December when it was launched, with thousands of MSMEs embracing e-commerce as a result of the program.

Apart from dedicated training programs, Lazada is also planning on launching the Lazada University soon. The LU would be aimed at developing the skills and enhancing the training of existing sellers in the e-commerce platform, as well as SMEs which are interested in transitioning their business to the Internet.

The post Lazada to launch e-payment system for Indonesia this year appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

The results of the study, which involved an analysis of roughly six million websites a day over the course of Q3 2017, were a bit disturbing.

HOW US$1000 (OR NOTHING) BUYS MALWARE ACCESS TO YOUR NETWORK

Tech Wire Asia | 6 November, 2017

According to SiteLock, search engine blacklist algorithms, which are built-in contingencies against potential cyber attacks, only worked effectively 21 percent of the time.

That means that among the multitudes of websites it studied, 79 percent of compromised websites completely flew under the radar of search engines’ safety systems.

Search engine blacklist algorithms only work effectively 21 percent of the time. Source: Sitelock

Infected websites could cause a lot of damage, both to a business and its customers.

Business owners who are not aware that their website is compromised, for example, could end up putting their data and reputation at risk.

Malware, after all, can result in irreversible data, resource theft, and a significant loss organic traffic, which are arguably some of the worst things that can happen to a small business or startup’s online presence.

One particular theme that emerged from SiteLock’s recent study was the fact that infected websites do not receive a warning at all.

This is partly caused by website owners not really being aware that they are the ones responsible for the security of their business’ online security.

Website owners often aren’t sure whose responsibility it is to look after the security of their sites. Source: SiteLock

SiteLock surveyed 13,000 website owners in this regard and found that more than 40 percent believed that their site’s safety was the responsibility of their hosting provider. More than 20 percent were not even aware who to point the finger to with regards to cybersecurity. These misconceptions, of course, could prove to be fatal.

GOOGLE CHROME COLLABORATES WITH ESET TO HALT DANGEROUS MALWARE

Tech Wire Asia | 19 October, 2017

What was particularly disturbing in the report was that despite more instances of cyber attacks, search engines seemed to have blacklisted far fewer websites in Q3 2017 than in Q2 2017, performing 10 percent poorer in the third quarter and blocking far fewer infected sites compared to the second quarter.

Search engines blacklisted far fewer websites in Q3 2017 than in Q2 2017. Source: Sitelock

While this could be caused by search engines being more wary of false positive instances, where an otherwise clean website gets flagged for being compromised, the fewer cases of blacklists did seemingly end up resulting in an increased number of cyber attacks.

It’s no secret that incidents of cyber attacks are happening on a more frequent basis.

While massive corporations have the resources to dedicate a whole team of employees to detect and counter potential threats, small businesses, and startups, many of whom have a web presence that is still in the process of developing, are usually left more vulnerable.

With this in mind, small businesses and startups are advised to be more proactive when it comes to ensuring their web presence’s security. Utilizing file-based malware scanners are also advised. Overall, if there’s one thing that SiteLock’s recent study ultimately proved, it is that the security of a website really comes down to the proactiveness of those who run it, and how fast they can act when an attack does happen.

The post Warning: Your infected site probably won’t get flagged for malware appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

The results of the study showed that 84 percent of enterprises in the device manufacturing industry are embracing software solutions as the core of their operations.

CINCOM’S CPQ SOFTWARE MAKES SALES A STRATEGIC FORCE IN ANY BIZ

Cincom | 24 October, 2017

Among the companies that the IT security firm analyzed, 94 percent admitted that they had invested significantly in software development and maintenance over the past five years. The Internet of Things (IoT) is also another trend that businesses seem to be supporting, with 88 percent of the enterprises in the recent Gemalto study stating that IoT is driving a lot of growth in their respective industries.

One thing that particularly stood out from the Gemalto study was the fact that companies which have adopted a software-centric approach to their operations have seen significant benefits. Among the 84 percent that admitted to being supporters of software-based business solutions, 37 percent stated that they had seen an 11 percent average increase in revenue.

Apart from this notable improvement in earnings, the companies adopting software-centric approaches to their operations also stated that they project a rise of roughly 15 to 18 percent in revenue within the next five years.

Manufacturers are some of the businesses that are adopting software solutions in earnest. Source: Shutterstock

In a statement to the Economic Times, Gemalto senior vice-president of software monetization Shlomo Weiss explained how enterprises benefit from a software-centric business model. According to the Gemalto executive, the innate potential of software-based solutions is significant.

“Companies who adopt software-based revenue models will reap three main benefits: long-term relationships with their customers, predictable revenue streams, and a clear competitive advantage,” he said. 

“From gaining insight into product usage to pay-per-use payment structures and on to new market penetration – all the companies we surveyed identified a real need to transform how they do business.” 

THE FUTURE OF NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE DATA CENTER: SOFTWARE

Tech Wire Asia | 12 October, 2017

The recent Gemalto report further revealed that enterprises which transitioned their selling operations and strategies to software-based solutions had seen a number of significant benefits. For one, 86 percent of the firms in the Gemalto study has driven diversity in hardware with software features. Apart from this, 84 percent also implemented remote feature upgrades, while another 84 percent reported an improvement in customer experience.

The IT security firm concluded in its recent report that 79 percent of businesses which adopted a software-centric model were able to adopt a more flexible strategy. Seventy-six percent further stated that they are enjoying better copy protection, while 73 percent admitted that they have become more competitive in their respective fields.

The post Software solutions made huge gains in the last year – Gemalto appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

As noted by a report from The Next Web, consumers today wish to be viewed as a unique entity, not just a designated identification number.

In a lot of ways, the advent of social media is the catalyst that ultimately brought about this evolution. With platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat, businesses of all sizes are able to reach out and communicate actively with their potential and existing customers.

5 USEFUL IMAGE TOOLS TO BOOST YOUR SOCIAL MARKETING ENGAGEMENT

Tech Wire Asia | 15 November, 2017

One-on-one conversations between companies and customers have also become prolific. A 2016 Twilio survey concluded that more than half of consumers prefer to communicate with enterprises through direct online messaging, as noted in a TechCrunch report.

Personalizing the customer experience is a matter of knowing who the target demographic of a business really is. Take Maybelline, for example. The makeup giant has long been in the industry, and it has experienced and adapted to numerous marketing changes over the past few decades. This time around, the makeup firm is taking advantage of current online trends, such as YouTube makeup tutorials and a dedicated app for potential users.

As noted in a report from The Next Web, Maybelline’s Makeup Genius application might be a relatively simple makeup simulator, but it does allow users to see how the firm’s products would look at them in real life. Overall, Makeup Genius allows Maybelline to reach out to millions of potential customers.

Maybelline created a makeup simulator to help their customers make better personal choices. Source: Shutterstock

This particular idea is emphasized by AdGreetz, a firm that tailors its clients’ video marketing campaigns to their target demographic. In a statement to Business Insider, the company admitted that while challenging, making advertisements and marketing initiatives customized for specific customers renders concrete results.

WHY EVIAN NOW SPENDS 80 PC OF ITS MARKETING BUDGET ON DIGITAL MEDIA

Tech Wire Asia | 7 December, 2017

As an example, AdGreetz cited its recent partnership with Flipkart during the firm’s Big Billion Days sales, which resulted in three times the e-commerce retailer’s usual click-through rate. This ultimately doubled Flipkart’s typical sales compared to last year. This initiative, however, required AdGreetz to deploy more than 100,000 unique ads for Flipkart.

The same thing was done by AdGreetz for Forever 21, which utilized the firm’s services for a massive email campaign. Due to the personalized nature of Forever 21’s email marketing initiatives, the fashion giant managed to raise its conversion rates by 50 percent, increasing its click-through rate by as much as 132 percent.

Overall, the current social media age is really all about personalized data and utilizing it to provide a customized experience to target customers. If businesses would like to thrive in the current marketing generation, it would be wise for them to employ initiatives that are ultimately tailor-fit for their target demographic.

The post It’s all about personalization in the new marketing sphere appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

During the 2017 Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit, the tech firm’s research vice-president Earl Perkins argued for the importance of automation as one of the emerging trends in cybersecurity.

YOUR SMALL BUSINESS IS MORE VULNERABLE TO CYBERATTACKS THAN YOU THINK

Tech Wire Asia | 30 November, 2017

According to Perkins, the continued evolution of cybersecurity means that AI-driven security measures would likely become the bread and butter of enterprises within the next few years. With this in mind, Perkins stated that adaptive skills would likely be the next phase of cybersecurity.

AI-powered automation systems have been around for a while now, though the technology’s penetration remains marginal. As noted in a recent report from SME Web, simulated cyber attack penetration tests today are still dominantly run by humans.

By 2020, however, it is expected that roughly 10 percent of authorized simulated cyber attacks will be initiated by AI-driven machines, and they will behave almost exactly like real-world hackers.

Gartner analyst Earl Perkins shares 5 trends in #cybersecurity for 2017 and 2018. https://t.co/p87jqsDMk3 #GartnerSEC pic.twitter.com/vs2uAAu63m

— Gartner (@Gartner_inc) August 1, 2017

With this in mind, the next few years will be incredibly vital for AI-driven cybersecurity systems. There will be advances in cyber-tools which will ultimately help protect SMEs and other enterprises, such as deception technologies and other similar countermeasures, would likely become prolific.

The same thing is true with firewalls — with the added intelligence provided by systems that are capable of machine learning, businesses with an online presence can keep their valuable data secure.

A LACK OF TALENT COULD DAMPEN CHINA’S ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE DREAMS

Tech Wire Asia | 14 December, 2017

Considering that hackers are not going away anytime soon, the idea of ever-evolving threats in the digital landscape is something that businesses, regardless of their size, must take into consideration. Threats online are only getting smarter, and within the next few years, cyber attacks would likely get advanced enough to the point where they would need very little human input to cause significant damage.

Fortunately, cybersecurity measures are advancing at roughly the same pace. Security systems and countermeasures are also progressively getting smarter, and with AI-driven systems, businesses would be as secure as they could be, as noted in a CSO Online report.

Considering the trends in the digital landscape, there is even a pretty good chance that by the time AI-powered cybersecurity systems fully mature, they would be faster, more efficient, and more affordable than they are today.

The post AI could help us get through the age of automated cyberattacks appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

In the last two years, it has been a particularly disturbing to discover that cyberattacks happen incredibly frequently but only a tiny fraction of them get mass attention. As noted in a report from IT Pro Portal, insurance firm Zurich initiated a study on businesses’ cybersecurity and found that almost one million SMEs suffered a cyber attack last year.

2017 HAS CHANGED HOW BUSINESSES AND CUSTOMERS THINK ABOUT CYBERSECURITY

Samantha Cheh | 21 November, 2017

Roughly 20 percent of the compromised enterprises stated that they lost approximately US$13,000 as a result of the incident, and around 10 percent of the affected firms stated that they lost roughly US$66,000.

For an SME or a startup still finding its legs on its selected market, such losses are no joke. Every amount lost as a result of a cybersecurity breach, after all, is money down the drain. High-profile enterprises are usually prolific enough to take damages brought about by cyberattacks without many long-term effects, but SMEs are affected in a far graver manner.

As the landscape of the digital enterprise continues to evolve, pervading threats from hackers are becoming a given for businesses who wish to establish a significant online presence. As noted in a report from The Next Web, the current year represents yet another rise in cyberattacks, with data breaches jumping around 29 percent during the first half of 2017.

CEO of McAfee, Chris Young. Source: McAfee

If a business, regardless of its size, wishes to keep its data secure, it would be wise to look beyond conventional IT security systems. In a statement spoken at TNW New York, McAfee CEO Chris Young suggested an ideal way for a business to protect itself from the threat of hackers and cyber attacks through securing the hardware with which we access the Internet. 

IS SECURITY AUTOMATION THE ANSWER TO THE GLOBAL SHORTAGE OF CYBERSECURITY TALENT?

Tech Wire Asia | 12 October, 2017

According to Young, anti-hacking software, dedicated hardware, and personnel who are specifically tasked to prevent data breaches are incredibly vital. More importantly, however, it is pertinent for SMEs and other businesses to develop a culture of security. It is ultimately this culture that determines if a company stays protected from hackers or not.

The McAfee executive further asserted that security must be embedded deeply into a company’s vision and values, in order to emphasize cybersecurity to every employee that gets hired. Overall, Young noted that every business in the digital age must have security as a core value. Otherwise, an enterprise that foregoes this becomes a business that is playing with fire, and a business that would likely get burned.

“Think security first and make that a tenet of the culture. From the earliest stages of product design, to selecting vendor partners to writing job descriptions — security needs to be top of mind for every critical decision, every new process, every rule.”

The post It takes more than just IT to keep a business safe from cyberattacks appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

With the cryptocurrency surging to levels unheard of before, some creative bitcoin investors are giving away cryptocurrency tokens as a Christmas gift, and it is pretty awesome.

Bitcoin gift card for Xmas ? #Christmas #bitcoin #btc #cryptocurency #blockchain#bit4coin pic.twitter.com/TcmaBsPHEc

— Milad (@Milad_86) December 13, 2017

In a recent article on Fortune, Kathleen Breitman recalled the first time she gave a bitcoin token to someone as a gift. According to Breitman, she gave one bitcoin to a friend’s baby girl as a birthday gift back in 2013.

During that time, one bitcoin was worth US$200, and she thought that if cryptocurrencies ended up crashing, the present would be a great inside joke between her and her friend’s daughter.

COMPUTER RUNNING SLOWER THAN USUAL? YOU MIGHT BE MINING BITCOIN FOR SOMEONE ELSE

Simon Alvarez | 14 December, 2017

With bitcoin at its present state, however, it seems like Breitman’s gift to her daughter is proving to be a smart, almost extravagant present.

With this in mind, Breitman suggested that this season, it would be a great idea to expand on traditional Christmas gifts by giving away some cryptocurrency.

“This holiday season, we should rethink our conventional thoughts about gifts and look to the digital world. I think a portion of a bitcoin—or another type of cryptocurrency—would be an excellent gift for anyone interested in the future,” Breitman wrote in a Fortune report.

It's a #CryptoChristmas! Give the gift of crypto this holiday season! https://t.co/z8uMlmBx3c

— Totle (@totlecrypto) December 18, 2017

Andy L., an early bitcoin investor, also believes that bitcoins make for great Christmas gifts.

This year, the bitcoin enthusiast said he is giving away US$8,000 worth of bitcoins to friends and family members, and he is even shipping them in colorful Christmas cards, as noted in a Yahoo! Finance report.

Instead of handwritten notes, however, Andy L.’s cards feature a QR Code and a chain of numbers and letters, each corresponding to 0.01 bitcoin, or roughly US$174 as of writing.

BITCOIN VALUE SURPASSES $10,000 AS SKEPTICS WARN OF BUBBLE

Tech Wire Asia | 29 November, 2017

In a recent press release, CupoNation Singapore also suggested that giving bitcoins as gifts this holiday season is a great way to buck tradition. According to the Asian e-commerce firm, not only will bitcoin gifts be incredibly unique; they would likely be very memorable for those that receive them as well.

In a lot of ways, Breitman believes that giving bitcoin as gifts this Christmas is not only thoughtful, it is also a great way to introduce someone to what might very well be the next generation of currencies.

“Giving it as a gift is a novel way to expose someone else to the technology without boring them with white papers and cheesy YouTube videos. Regardless of how high its price rises, your friends and family will be one further step toward understanding the way the next generation will transfer value,” Breitman wrote in a Fortune report.

The post Bitcoins could be the best gift ever this Christmas appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.