{"id":15319,"date":"2025-02-27T13:31:46","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T13:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=15319"},"modified":"2025-02-27T13:31:46","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T13:31:46","slug":"paypal-backed-raise-secures-63m-to-expand-blockchain-based-gift-card-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=15319","title":{"rendered":"PayPal-Backed Raise Secures $63M to Expand Blockchain-Based Gift Card System"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Raise, a PayPal-backed company specializing in digital gift cards and loyalty programs, has raised a $63 million round led by Haun Ventures. The round brings Raise\u2019s total funding to over $220 million.<\/p>\n<p>Other participants included Amber Group, Anagram, and GSR, among others, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prnewswire.com\/news-releases\/raise-secures-63-million-to-transform-the-payments-and-loyalty-industry-with-blockchain-powered-gift-cards-302385340.html\" target=\"_blank\">press release<\/a>. The Chicago-based company is set to use the funds to develop its blockchain-backed Smart Cards and expand the Retail Alliance Foundation, a non-profit focused on securing and modernizing the global gift card network.<\/p>\n<p>The company aims to make gift cards a \u201cfully programmable retail currency\u201d that strengthens brand loyalty. &#8220;This isn&#8217;t a reaction to market trends &#8212; it&#8217;s the result of years of investment, research, and infrastructure-building to bring a fully on-chain, programmable retail currency to life,\u201d the platform\u2019s founder and CEO George Bousis told CoinDesk.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe crypto industry needs real utility now more than ever. Investors are demand substance over speculation, and consumers are tired of broken promises,\u201d Bousis added. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve spend over a decade exploring how blockchain can drive real-world change in the multi-trillion-dollar gift card industry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Along with the funding round, the company announced a new board of directors featuring Marco Santori, former CLO of Kraken; George Ruan, co-founder of Honey; Matt Maloney, founder of GrubHub; and Bjorn Wagner, CEO of Parity Technologies. Their experience spans fintech, crypto, and e-commerce.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Raise, a PayPal-backed company specializing in digital gift cards and loyalty programs, has raised a $63 million round led by Haun Ventures. The round brings Raise\u2019s total funding to over $220 million. Other participants included Amber Group, Anagram, and GSR, among others, according to a press release. The Chicago-based company is set to use the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-15319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crypto","tag-doge","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15319\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}