HONG KONG, CHINA - MediaOutReach - 22 October 2018 - More than 50% of the USA's almost 4 billion loyalty rewards accounts arecurrently inactive, recent research shows, as users struggle to manage andredeem their points timely and merchants overspend on infrastructure andmaintenance.

GFX's new rewards platform, powered by blockchaintechnology, seeks to address these pain points by consolidating multiplemerchant reward schemes into one integrated cross-loyalty system.

In short, customers will be able to redeem or exchangeany participating merchant's loyalty points, while merchants should see bigsavings on infrastructure and network maintenance and gain valuable big datainsights and industry support.

The problem with loyalty cards

Customer loyalty programs have been in existence sincethe 1700's, when retailers handed out copper pieces as rewards.

Currently there are an estimated 3.8 billion rewardplan subscriptions in the USA alone, almost 29 per household.

A recent study however claims that 54% of theseaccounts are inactive, with almost 1 in every 3 consumers abandoning theirrewards programs without having redeemed a single point. 

Customers complain that there are too many programs,with a lack of transferability or reward options. Points are difficult andtime-consuming to manage and often expire without their knowledge. Usersultimately lose interest and abandon these programs.

On the other side of the checkout counter, merchantsstruggle to justify their high IT expenditure on infrastructure and maintenancewhen measured against the usually low customer participation and engagementnumbers.

The GFX Ecosystem

GFX's network will help affiliated users maximize theirrewards. GFX points have no expiration date and can be used to redeem goods andservices from any participating merchant.

For merchants, the platform promises increasedcustomer awareness and engagement, access to big data, a sophisticatedoff-the-shelf IT infrastructure as well as favorable accounting where pointsare not reflected as liabilities on the balance sheet.

How it works

Participating merchants link their loyalty programs toGFX's platform at an exchange rate that is floatedrelative to GFX's digital reward asset. 

For example, Merchant A is an airline, while MerchantB is a boutique store. One hundred of Merchant A's points equal 20 GFX points, while Merchant B's 100 points are worth 50 GFX points.

Users can use all of Merchants A and B's points for a total of 70 GFX points that neverexpire and can be used for any participating merchant's rewards. 

Customers will be able to join the GFX platformdirectly or through different loyalty-rewards programs.

The GFX Team

GFX's experienced team is headed by Mr. Nori Ishihara(CEO), an expert in M&A and global investments. Other senior membersinclude Mr. Eyal Rosenthal (COO), previous MD of the $600M private equity fund InfinityGroup, Mr. Shoichiro Tanaka (CSO), director of VLC Holdings and Mr. Vincent Lee--CTO and founding member of Coinbama, a Hong Kong based digital asset platforms.

You can stay up to date with the latest developmentsof GFX's project at www.gfxfoundation.com