Fold’s Bitcoin Gift Cards Drive Trading Revenue as Net Loss Persists

By Marcus Bennett

Fold Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: FLD) reported $4.2 million in third-quarter revenue and a $2.6 million net loss, according to its November 10, 2026 quarterly announcement.

That defines Fold’s present: the company is expanding, but its growth has not yet produced a profitable operating model.

The commercial challenge starts with a first purchase. A customer buys a Bitcoin product, perhaps through a gift card. Then comes the harder question: will they keep money and activity inside the same app?

How did gift cards change distribution?

Fold said TikTok Shop had become its largest gift-card and customer-acquisition channel. It attributed an approximate 270% increase in custody and trading revenue to gift-card sales.

That figure reflects the company’s own description of channel performance, rather than proof that every gift-card recipient becomes a recurring customer or retains funds over time.

A promotion can produce revenue once. A lasting relationship may support repeat activity, higher balances and broader product use.

New accounts, product launches and transaction volume are useful indicators. None is interchangeable with profit.

How do rewards turn a purchase into a relationship?

Fold’s rewards model pays eligible spending with actual Bitcoin. Customers can retain or withdraw it. They need not convert a separate proprietary points balance first.

That design is easier for users to understand than a reward requiring conversion, although the Bitcoin reward’s dollar value remains exposed to Bitcoin’s price after receipt.

Fold is betting that Bitcoin rewards encourage customers to leave more money and activity inside the app. Retained balances can create recurring revenue and broader product use.

The trade-off is equally concrete. Acquisition spending, account servicing and reward costs can erase those gains. Customers who redeem once and leave may not generate enough activity to cover them.

Fold reported more than 88,500 verified accounts. It also counted approximately 2,500 early-access credit-card holders. That gives the retention strategy a larger base to test.

What is Fold actually holding?

Management now emphasizes customer balances alongside transaction activity. That shift followed the launch of Fold Reserve and Lead Bank spending accounts.

Fold’s Reserve page calls the product “stored value” and says it is not an “FDIC-insured deposit account,” while its balance helps determine access to reward tiers.

The balance does not earn interest. Advertised rewards depend on qualifying balances and eligible spending.

That distinction matters when one app gathers several forms of customer money. A partner-bank spending account, a stored-value balance and Bitcoin custody may sit inside one interface. Each can carry different terms and protections.

Product presentation should not blur them into one savings account. Fold’s Bitcoin help page names BitGo as its custodian. Bitcoin purchases and rewards receive no FDIC or SIPC protection.

A NewsBTC review examined BitPay’s addition of Apple Pay and Google Pay checkout for crypto purchases. Both approaches seek easier entry. Their measures of success differ. Easier entry does not guarantee lasting engagement.

NewsBTC also recently examined BitGo’s results. That report provides context for Fold’s custody infrastructure.

When does growth become profitable?

Fold’s adjusted EBITDA was a $4.5 million loss. The preceding quarter produced a $5.5 million loss. The metric improved. It remained negative. It also sat alongside the reported $2.6 million net loss.

The strongest evidence of progress would connect gift-card acquisition to retained balances, sustained activity and better unit economics, rather than relying on new-account or transaction totals alone.

Investors should also watch incentive costs as more customers use the platform. By Fold’s next quarterly update, investors should have a clearer view of whether easier Bitcoin access can become a consistently profitable financial-services relationship.