This is one article in a collection of 52 articles published weekly throughout 2023 on the basics of Bitcoin. The series is intended for people unfamiliar with Bitcoin or people wishing to enhance their understanding of the fundamentals that underpin the technology. Please contact us, if you have any questions or comments.
Our last article explored the Bitcoin halving cycle and how this has been the point in previous halving cycles that it has been a good time to acquire bitcoin. Understandably the first purchase, particularly in a market as volatile as the price of bitcoin, is often the hardest. Fortunately, there is a way for individuals to dip their toe in the water instead of jumping directly in the deep end!
Lolli (which can be downloaded as an app or found on the world wide web at Lolli.com) allows its users to make purchases at participating partners and receive bitcoin back. The stores that Lolli currently has partnered with are well known and range from retailers (Walmart), grocery stores (Safeway), pet stores (Chewy), the secondary ticket market (stubhub), and so many more. Last year, Lolli released a feature that allows its users to link a credit card and earn bitcoin with in-store purchases at companies like CVS, Starbucks, McDonalds, and many more. It is not a stretch to say everyone in the United States could use Lolli’s services to purchase products the individual is already purchasing on a weekly basis all while acquiring bitcoin. And, if a Lolli user is using the new feature of a linked credit card, the user will get two bites at the reward apple - first the user will be rewarded for the underlying credit card and, in addition, the user will receive bitcoin back on the purchase.
The structure of Lolli is not new as several companies have utilized the concept of providing an incentive to users for purchasing items at participating partners. Credit card companies and start-ups like Rakuten (formerly known as Ebates) and Lemoney provide their users cashback for purchases at participating partners. The concept of Lolli is similar except Lolli provides its users satoshis (a satoshi is one hundred millionth of a single bitcoin) instead of cash for purchases at participating partners.
According the Lolli’s Terms and Conditions, Lolli receives a fee (presumably in the form of US dollars) from participating partners when a Lolli user makes a qualifying purchase. Lolli then provides a portion of the fee that the participating partner paid Lolli to the user who made the qualifying purchase in the form of bitcoin. Thus, the innovation of Lolli is that it allows its users to acquire satoshis (i.e. stack sats) while shopping at Lolli’s participating partners. Lolli makes it easy for everyone in the United States to acquire some bitcoin and it will even hold the bitcoin for its users so long as the user wishes (although Lolli does limit its liability to $50 in its terms of service so when a user’s bitcoin value eclipses that threshold, finding an alternative custody solution would be prudent).
With minimal effort Lolli allows anyone to gain exposure to bitcoin and, with a little persistence, become a satoshi millionaire by using Lolli’s services to purchase everyday goods like coffee, groceries, dog food, or prescriptions. Slowly gaining exposure to bitcoin is beneficial as it is much less daunting to self-custody a little bitcoin initially than a lot all of a sudden. I would highly encourage anyone interested in bitcoin to review the Lolli website and learn about its participating partners.
Author's disclosure: I received no compensation from Lolli or any other party for writing this article and have no affiliation with the company other than being a satisfied customer.
