Buy gift cards with Ethereum (ETH)

Why pay with Ethereum on Genghis?

Ethereum is the settlement layer of the programmable economy. A decade in production, the second-largest crypto network by market cap, and the rail underneath most of DeFi, NFTs, and rollup activity. On Genghis, ETH is a first-class checkout option on six networks: Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, Linea, zkSync Era and BNB Smart Chain. You pay from whichever of them already holds your balance, no bridging required.

For DeFi natives, dApp users, and anyone whose ETH already lives on Base, Arbitrum, Linea or zkSync Era, that flexibility matters. You're not forced onto mainnet to spend at gas prices that make a $25 gift card cost $35 in fees. We accept payment on the network where your wallet sits, settle through the Ethereum protocol, and deliver the digital good as soon as the network confirms the transaction.

The thesis is simple: most ETH holders today don't keep their balance on mainnet. They hold on rollups because that's where their dApps run and where transaction costs are sustainable. Forcing every checkout back through mainnet is a friction tax. Genghis removes it.

How to buy gift cards with Ethereum: 3-step checkout

1. 1

   Pick your product

   Browse 4,500+ gift cards, game keys, eSIMs, and prepaid cards. Filter by country, category, or denomination. No account required to add items to your cart.

2. 2

   Choose Ethereum and the network you hold

   Enter your email (used only to deliver the code) and select ETH at checkout. Pick the network where your wallet already sits: Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, Linea, zkSync Era or BNB Smart Chain. We display an invoice in ETH, a unique receiving address for that exact network, and the window during which that quote stands, about 20 minutes.

3. 3

   Send the ETH and receive your code

   Your code appears on screen as soon as the payment confirms on the network. We also email you a link to it. How long the network takes to confirm depends on the network you pick. No KYC at checkout.

Important: each network has a different deposit address. Always send to the address shown for the network you selected at checkout. Sending mainnet ETH to an L2 address (or vice versa) will route the funds to a different wallet, and recovery is rarely possible.

Why pay with Ethereum specifically?

• ▸Pay from the wallet you already use. Most ETH holders keep their balance across mainnet plus one or two L2s. Genghis accepts ETH on six networks, so you don't move funds just to check out.
• ▸Sub-dollar fees on L2. A $25 gift card paid from Base or Arbitrum costs you $0.05-$0.40 in chain fees. The same purchase on mainnet during congestion can run $5-$15 in gas alone, meaningful friction that L2s remove.
• ▸Programmable money meets retail rails. The same ETH balance that earns yield in DeFi, mints NFTs, and pays for compute on a rollup also pays Genghis suppliers for an Amazon gift card. One asset, one wallet, no off-ramp.

Ethereum confirmation times and fees on Genghis

ETH is also accepted on Linea, zkSync Era and BNB Smart Chain. The amount in your coin is shown before you pay. It includes our exchange-rate margin; a network cost applies only to USDT on Tron and to Monero. The quote holds for about 20 minutes: send inside that window, or refresh the quote on the payment screen and send the new amount.

Choosing the right Ethereum network for your order

With six networks available, the right choice depends on order size and where your ETH already sits. The general rule: pay from the network you already hold ETH on. Bridging just to check out is never the right move: bridge fees and the time cost outweigh whatever you save in network fees on the destination chain.

• ▸Order under $50: use Base. Sub-$0.20 fees mean network cost is rounding error on the order.
• ▸Order $50-$500: any L2 works. Pick whichever one your wallet is on.
• ▸Order over $500: mainnet is reasonable if your ETH already lives there. The $5-$15 fee is small as a percentage of order.

Ethereum vs Bitcoin vs stablecoins: which should you use?

ETH sits between BTC and stablecoins on most dimensions:

For deeper context on the trade-off between volatile and stable rails, see our breakdown of Bitcoin vs stablecoins for everyday shopping.

What people typically buy with Ethereum on Genghis

The five most common ETH use cases we see at checkout:

• Game keys: Steam, Razer Gold, and standalone titles (Battlefield 6, Borderlands 4) paid from L2 wallets where the buyer already holds ETH from DeFi yield or NFT sales.
• High-value gift cards: Apple, Amazon, and Google Play denominations of $100-$500. Mainnet payments are common here.
• Subscription stacks: Netflix, Spotify, Nintendo, topped up monthly from a Base or Arbitrum wallet because L2 fees make recurring small payments viable.
• Travel and eSIM: Airbnb gift cards and Airalo eSIM plans paid by remote workers who already keep ETH on a self-custody wallet.
• Spending DeFi yield: for users who park stablecoins in lending protocols and pull yield in ETH, paying directly with that ETH avoids the round-trip back to USD.

Further reading

• Bitcoin vs Stablecoins for Shopping: A Practical Comparison
• Living on Crypto in 2026: What Actually Works
• How to Spend Crypto in the USA Without Cashing Out