Purse, a startup specializing in helping online shoppers save when paying with Bitcoin , has secured $1 million in funding from Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group.
Purse lets users sell off their unwanted Amazon gift cards at a discount, in exchange for bitcoins paid by the buyer. Users have reported savings of 10% to 20% on merchandise through the service.
The funding round, reported by CoinDesk, is the startup’s second in roughly a year. Previously, it secured $300,000 in funding to build new apps and improve the user experience. Its platform has since added new merchants in addition to Amazon.
As part of the announcement, Purse mentioned a “secret Bitcoin project” called Tritium, which would bring “new value to consumers and partners.”
Tritium, in its physical definition, is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. Its nucleus contains three components: two neutrons in addition to the standard proton.
The funding is the industry’s first this month, which is likely to be a quiet one. Crypto industry investment this quarter has been relatively sparse, continuing a downtrend that started earlier this year. $27 million in investments have been announced this quarter, versus $117.6 million in Q4 2014, according to Finance Magnates data.
Venture investment has been increasingly shifting toward Blockchain technologies, with decreasing focus on bitcoin as a currency.
