I am quite pleased to share one of the biggest changes in iConsumer’s history.
We’re transitioning to a “you get Bitcoin (BTC) every time you shop” model, plus you still earn equity in iConsumer. Beginning December 23, 2017, shopping at our 1,700+ retailers by using our site, apps (or Apple or Android devices), or the iConsumer Button means you’re earning iConsumer equity (OTC: RWRDP) and now, getting Bitcoin. We’ve retired cash back.
While the “how” iConsumer works mostly stays the same, the fact that you’re getting Bitcoin (BTC) means that you’re in the middle of one of the most interesting financial revolutions in history.
It’s hard to miss the amazing increase in value that Bitcoin has had recently. And of course, that value may crash and go away. That can be scary for people, but that’s our opportunity. We remove many of the difficulties currently related to speculating on Bitcoin, and by making it free, a lot of the fear, too.
Lots of reasons, but mostly, we think we can grow bigger, faster, and more profitably by making this change. All while staying true to our mission of including the 99% in the fabric of the economy. Our aim, as always, is to build a great company where the shareholders (50,000 and counting) share in the value they’re helping to create. And, of course, every customer is a shareholder.
Our systems already track everything for you, so members experience the thrills of being in this brand new market without writing a check, without going through the pain of buying BTC, without the expense of buying BTC, and without the mumbo-jumbo of having to get and manage a cryptocurrency wallet. Our members are getting BTC for free, we’re tracking it, and they’re watching its value rise and fall. When a member is ready to take the next step, to have their own wallet or account on an exchange and track it for themselves, only then will we transfer their Bitcoin to them.
By using Bitcoin, we immediately are able to serve customers around the world. We already have retailers in six countries other the U.S., and we’re going to be adding lots more. No multicurrency issues with Bitcoin.
Transferring Bitcoin to members is much less expensive for us.
And the most exciting part? We’re working on becoming a blockchain-native company. This is the same technology that underpins Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. We’re doing that in preparation for possibly issuing our own token/coin in an ICO (Initial Coin Offering). Everything we’re doing to make Bitcoin work for our members is one less thing that we need to do later on.
Lastly, we’re putting the finishing touches on our next offering circular, and then we’ll submit it to the SEC.
BTC is highly volatile, the price goes up and down every day, often up and down by a lot. That’s the biggest danger (and part of the thrill). We here at iConsumer do not want to speculate on Bitcoin, so we’re going to make sure that we buy sufficient BTC each day to meet that day’s sales. If our members earned a total of five Bitcoins on Tuesday, we’ll buy five Bitcoins on Tuesday.
BTC is more easily stolen than cash in the bank, so we’re taking lots of steps to prevent that.
Our members need to understand the volatility of Bitcoin. This is exactly the same challenge we have with members understanding that our stock price goes up and down. Which means we’ll be working on helping them understand that there is lots of risk, and hopefully how to assess that risk in their own situation. I believe that because people are getting Bitcoin “for free” it’ll help them be more comfortable with the potential risk.
Many people are saying that Bitcoin is in a market bubble. Other people are saying that may be true, but their long term outlook is very, very positive. Our members are going get the chance to be on that roller coaster.
Tell me again what’s this mean to me as a shareholder?
Our basic economic model hasn’t changed. A member shops at a retailer. The retailer pays us a commission. We share that commission with the member (making it a rebate to the consumer). Plus, the member earns our equity. What’s new is that we now share that commission in the form of Bitcoin. So, we need to go buy Bitcoin first, and then share the Bitcoin with the member.
We plan to buy Bitcoin as close as possible to when we understand our obligation to deliver Bitcoin to our members. In that fashion, we reduce the effect of Bitcoin’s volatility on iConsumer.
It is possible that this transition will change how easy or hard it is to recruit new members and shareholders, which would change our costs. Our research indicates that over 60% of our current members are intrigued by the possibility of this transition. We’ll see how that affects our recruitment efforts.
Where do I go to figure out the ins and outs of this change?
Our knowledge base has been updated to reflect the transition. We’ll be updating it frequently. We launched on one of the slowest days of the year to minimize any hiccups that may occur. If they do, please let us know by visiting our support site and dropping us a note.
We’re doing a webinar on this topic.
On Wednesday, January 10, 2018 at 2 pm EST. Click here to register.
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I’m all for taking advantage of the cryptocurrency revolution and getting paid in Bitcoins. Miner fees are high though. Any chance of also exploring paying out in other currencies such as Litecoin where the miner fees are lower?
We are looking to include other cryptocurrencies (and even potentially our own blockchain coin) in the future.
So, the current balance (shares & commissions) that I have in my account now will be converted to BTC? If so, that’s awesome! If not, do we have the option of converting it & not receiving cash back (since it is before Dec. 23rd)?
Wow, that’s an interesting request. It’s not what we had planned, but we’ll think about it. We only thought about the reverse, how to convert Bitcoin into cash so that if we owed you a check, but the amount wasn’t $25, we could still get you a check.
We definitely won’t convert shares into BTC, we working too hard to make those liquid and more valuable on the OTC.
This reminds me of when Netflix tried to become two seperate companies and the user base revolted until Netflix realized their mistake. Right now I use iConsumer exclusively and no other related sites. I have also separately invested in shares. I for one am not interested in being one of the guniea pigs for using Bitcoin in this fashion. Mainly for the reasons you pointed out… too volatile and too easily stolen. Additionally, it’s unregulated and there are many indicators that it could just crash like the Tulip and Bulb market. I am very disappointed with this decision and will follow my own HOLD recommendation with iConsumer.
Thanks for the feedback, Troy.
We understand this isn’t everyone’s preference, but feel the potential growth of iConsumer as a business via this business change will mean good things for iConsumer stock – which you still earn on every purchase made!
And we’ll certainly be monitoring the business closely (as we always have) to ensure we are doing all we can to make iConsumer profitable for our shareholders.
That’s the end of my using IConsumer. I want real cash back in dollars, not incredibly speculative and uncertain bitcoin.
We understand this isn’t everyone’s preference, but feel the potential growth of iConsumer as a business via this business change will mean good things for iConsumer stock – which you still earn on every purchase made should you choose to continue as an iConsumer shopper!
When is the valuation for our bitcoin struck? Do we get the value (i.e., bitcoin price) on the day the shopping transaction is done (and it holds that value), or is our value dependent on the bitcoin price on the day we redeem/cash it in down the road?
When you make the purchase, you will be allotted a number of bitcoin, via calculations based on the valuation of Bitcoin that day.
When you redeem/cash in, your number of Bitcoin redeemed will be paid out at the valuation of the day you redeem.
The number of Bitcoin you have will NOT change, but its valuation will.
A little more detail. When you make a purchase, you’ll get Bitcoin. The number of Bitcoin you get will be dependent on the USD value of Bitcoin that day. From then on, you transfer your Bitcoin, there is no more calculation made. So, if you got 1 Bitcoin (wow!), and you decide that you want to transfer it to a wallet or an exchange in a year, we’ll transfer 1 Bitcoin. There is no calculation as to the value of the Bitcoin at the time it is transfered.
Bitcoin is great, but the transaction fees are pretty big now – withdrawing it would cost $30+ (see https://bitcoinfees.info), which doesn’t seem like it will work given the low margin, low volume here on a per-customer basis. Have you considered other cryptocurrencies, like Litecoin or Bitcoin Cash (perhaps one of the ones that Coinbase supports)?
Will our current earnings be transferred to Bitcoin? I actually hope so, but it would be nice for this to be disclosed if so.
No – current ‘cash’ earnings will stay in cash. Purchases starting on 12/23 at 1:00pm Central will earn Bitcoin.
For more details, this Payments article in support gives an example.
Sad to see this – call me old-school, but I prefer cash back. It will be interesting to see how this changes things in the future.
Thank you Kim for your response to consider other currencies. I see alot of other businesses are dropping bitcoin because of the fees. There is even a rumor that Facebook might be adopting Litecoin. Having own blockchain coin in future is a neat idea as well.
One of the features is that you don’t need to transfer your Bitcoin out of iConsumer until you’re ready. The whole crypto world is changing fast. We’re even looking at our own coin.
Let’s see – payable in a stable currency, aka, the world’s reserve currency, aka, the largest currency market (that’s the US Dollar to you and me) OR payable by choosing the fifth horse in the seventh race – or is it #7 on roulette, I forget (that’s Bitcoin for those following along).
Thanks for the feedback, Sean.
It definitely is different than getting cash back. The risk / reward ratio changes for sure. Thanks for your input.
I signed up and i am confused how this all works, i shop but i dont know how you know that i have shopped and where is it that i see my balance.
You can log in to iConsumer, click on the arrow next to your name and select “My Stats” – this will show you your iConsumer shopping activity.
More details can be found at this support article: How iConsumer Works.
Thanks for your input. Hopefully, we’ve thought about all of that, and we’re not nearly as pessimistic as you are. Indeed, we’re quite optimistic. There is a lot of hype, but we believe that in the longer term, we’re on to something.
Is there a minimum withdrawal amount for bitcoin to my own wallet? Or will that depend on fees?
No minimum set by us. No fees charged by us.
Just to add to our thanks. One of the beauties of Bitcoin is that mostly the fees are expressed as a percentage of the transfer / exchange. So the size of the transfer doesn’t matter as much.
And, there’s no need to transfer until you’re ready.
Once we get Bitcoin working smoothly, we’ll consider other coins, as well as our own.
I agree with the others above who have pointed out a lot of the reasons for being against this decision which is not just a “preference” which by the way we were not given.
We considered offering both cash back and Bitcoin at the same time (giving our members a choice). We decided that for a bunch of reasons that was unworkable. It was all in for this.
Your existing cash back isn’t stranded, so you can make sure you get a check from us once you’ve got $25 (just like always).
As our shareholder, your opinion is important to us. You have many choices. You can continue to use us (we hope that’s your choice) and get Bitcoin, you can stop, you can sell your shares (that ability is just around the corner), or, you can continue to use us, and if you have already have a pending balance, you can have us add the Bitcoin balance to it and get a check.
I am short of the $25 required to cash out. Considering it will be impossible to earn more, will you send checks for these amounts when this switch happens?
You will be able to earn Bitcoin on subsequent purchases. We’ll then exchange that Bitcoin for cash (using the price we’re paying for Bitcoin on the day you make the request), to bring your earned cash total to over $25, and send you the check.
For more detail, please check out our Payments support article, updated for 12/23/17.
We think it’s awesome too. Of course, the Bitcoin you get may go up or down in value, don’t forget that.
Once we’re actually, finally, truly quoted you’ll be able to see what other folks think of the value of our shares. It’ll take some time still before the market has any kind of liquidity, so I personally expect there to be a lot of volatility in our share price.
Fortunately for us, there are several folks (including me) who think that our shares are not worthless. Time will tell.
Thanks for the comment and for being a customer and shareholder.
Please do not do this until or unless you have complied with the NY BitLicense and other similar regulatory frameworks.
By not receiving your BitLicense, you cannot legally distribute Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency in New York State.
Thanks for the heads up. Being a “public” company, we have lawyers everywhere. We’ll make sure they have our backs on this.
Besides the miner fees, some exchanges like Coinbase charge high fees too. Please ensure to use other exchanges such as GDAX or Gemini to save on exchange fees.
We’re not the ones who choose the exchange that a member uses, the member does that. It does sound like we should give some thought to a Shareholder Academy Learning Center post on how to find Bitcoin / crypto resources.
As an BTC holder, Ethereum miner and crypto lover this is the best news I’ve heard in a while. BTC started the year at roughly $750 and ETH roughly $8. Look where there at now. This is the future. I hope you allow us to covert pass earning to BTC.
Aloso if you introduced a BTC reward for referral I bet membership would blast off.
Wall Street and Main Street are just now starting to enter this space and 2018 will make 2017 look like peanuts.
We love hearing “best news”. Makes us proud. Thanks!
While we don’t offer a BTC reward for referral, we do offer our stock. They’re different, but the same. If you think that iConsumer will do well, the idea is that iConsumer’s success translates into good things for our stock.
I don’t feel lucky…feel like I’ll be playing Wheel of Fortune with bitcoin.
Send me the cash I have in my account and we’ll call it a day.
Love the quote. Bitcoin is a risky, without a doubt. We’re still sending out cash on the same terms as before, once there’s $25 earned, a check goes out automatically. See our Knowledge Base for details on how that works now.
As our shareholder, we hope that you may want to be a customer, too, but you don’t have to be to profit. I’m a shareholder in Ford, and I don’t own a Ford.
One take on the loss of $40 billion of Bitcoin’s market value yesterday.
The volatility of this market is amazing. I was sitting in a room with 1300 Wall Street professional money types in October, doing research on this space. That was when BTC was moving out of the $5000 range. Less than 3 months ago.
It’s part of the scary part of this world. And a major reason we think there are a lot (millions, maybe) of people who will join and use iConsumer to get free Bitcoin, so that they can experience it without all of the hassles that actually Bitcoin entail.
Driving more people to use iConsumer makes our company stronger, and should benefit our 50,000 shareholders to a much higher number.
I’ve been a member for a while now and have earned a total of $24.98–just shy of the $25.00 cash out. What happens to the money I’ve earned? Will I really lose out just because of a two cent difference?
I think Iconsumer is gonna see huge growth on the short term, we will see about the log term. I’m interested in an option to exchange my existing cash back to BITCOIN, this was addressed in a prior COMMENT but a definite answer wasn’t given.
You’re right, we didn’t directly answer the question.
The answer – maybe. I can’t think of a legal or regulatory reason we can’t do it, so it should be possible. But it’s only been two and a half days since we launched this. Lots of things we need to learn first. Not least of which is how many of our existing members find this as exciting as you do. We have internal estimates, but they’re only that, estimates.
If lots of existing members start earning Bitcoin, then we’ll look at what it takes to convert existing balances to BTC. First we’ll need to try to figure out how many people want us to do that conversion. Nothing is ever simple, and we have limited resources. To do that conversion right, at scale, requires processes and procedures, audit trails, training, and probably hard stuff I haven’t thought of. We’re dealing with money, mistakes are bad.
As a shareholder, I want you to be excited about the short AND the long term. One of our goals is 1,000,000 customer / shareholders. We’ll be a pretty darn cool company when we reach that goal.
For non US citizens, are they able to earn both bitcoin and stocks or only bitcoin?
Yes – you get both Bitcoin and Shares of stock in iConsumer when you shop!
For clarification, your site still says that stock can only be issued to residents of the United States with valid Social Security Numbers. How can stocks be issued to non US citizens if they can earn both bitcoin and stocks? I’m about to contact one of my uplines who is a promoter of cryptocurrency programs to see if he can help spread the word for iConsumer. He has international followers as well, so I’ll need to provide him the info regarding non US citizens.
We’re waiting on getting the specifics of what info we need to collect for non U.S. stockholders to update our site with those details, but the lawyers have said “non U.S. is fine”.