Lolli browser extension gives shoppers free bitcoin when making online purchases

Alex
Adelman, founder of Lolli.
Lolli

• Lolli is a startup that offers incentives for online
  shoppers by giving money back in the form of bitcoin.
• Once you download Lolli’s extension, you’re alerted to
  any bitcoin-back offers when shopping on one of Lolli’s online
  retail partners.

Fewer people own cryptocurrencies than you might think.
A recent study found that only a small percentage of
Americans own cryptoassets and that many people still don’t know
how to go about buying them. 

One startup founder, Alex Adelman, hopes to speed up bitcoin’s
adoption process, and he’s doing it by making cryptocurrencies
accessible to people who aren’t necessarily interested in going
out of their way to buy it.

Adelman is the founder of Lolli, an eight-month-old New
York-based startup with a single-minded mission: Put
cryptocurrencies like bitcoin into the hands of consumers,
risk-free. 

Lolli’s primary offering is a browser extension (it pairs with Chrome and Safari and
it’s downloadable through Lolli’s website) that pairs with
more than 500 online retailers. Purchase an item through one of
Lolli’s online retail partners, and you’ll receive as much as 30%
off the item’s cost back in bitcoin. From there, the bitcoin is
stored in your personal Lolli wallet where it can later be cashed
in to your bank account. 

It’s like cash back, but for bitcoin.

Lolli

So far, Lolli’s partners include a number of different kinds of
retailers including Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, Lucky Brand, Home
Depot, Hotels.com, Jet.com,and SeatGeek.

For Adelman, Lolli is not only an incentive for online shoppers
but an educational platform where he believes many people will
have their very first experience with a digital asset.

“Buying bitcoin or making any first investment is inherently
risky,” said Adelman. “It’s important to make it easy. We’re
trying to take away all the risks of buying into bitcoin. People
are making a completely passive investment by us negotiating
deals with online retailers and working off our partnerships.”

Adelman has leveraged the retail connections he made through his
previous e-commerce startup Cosmic (which was later acquired by
PopSugar), to yield a streamlined business model: Retailers offer
Lolli a commission for each shopper they drive to the site and
Lolli returns a part of its commission back to shoppers in
bitcoin. 

Lolli

For Adelman, it was important to keep Lolli’s design light and
approachable. For instance, Lolli’s name comes from the lollipops
that banks hand out to customers: “Most people hate going to the
bank,” he said. “I’ve always looked forward to the lollipop at
the end.”

Adelman said that he believes that risk-free incentives have long
been missing in the cryptocurrency space, and that many people
still view cryptocurrencies as unapproachable or difficult to
understand. For Lolli,
bitcoin is only the beginning. Adelman said that he hopes to
build an engaged online community surrounding his product and
that its offerings might extend to other digital currencies in
the future. 

“I believe that bitcoin is the
bank of the future, and that it’s going to bank billions of
people across the world,” he said. “Right now it’s not very user
friendly, it’s not fun. The thing that’s missing is the lollipop.
We’re coming in and being that fun, easy way to get into
bitcoin.”