This blog post discusses the applicability of the Ontario Consumer Protection Act, 2002 gift card rules to the purchase of bitcoins. It was written by Addison Cameron-Huff, a lawyer who specializes in Bitcoin. He highly recommends that you seek legal advice when deciding whether the Consumer Protection Act, 2002 applies to your transactions.
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The Consumer Protection Act, 2002 (CPA)is the main consumer protection law in Ontario. Among its many provisions are rules about “gift cards”, a concept that sounds like it could include bitcoins. If the sale of bitcoins is considered the sale of gift cards under the CPA then there could be fee limits for sales (ss. 25.4(2)(a) & 25.4(2.1)(b)) and potentially a consumer refund right (s. 25.4(3)-(4)).
Gift card is a defined term in the CPA:
“gift card” means a voucher in any form, including an electronic credit or written certificate, that is issued by a supplier under a gift card agreement and that the holder is entitled to apply towards purchasing goods or services covered by the voucher; …
“gift card agreement” means a future performance agreement under which the supplier issues a gift card to the consumer and in respect of which the consumer makes payment in full when entering into the agreement; …
“open loop gift card agreement” means a gift card agreement that entitles the holder of a gift card to apply it towards purchasing goods or services from multiple unaffiliated sellers.
Consumer Protection Act, 2002, OR 17/05, s. 23.
The definition of gift card requires that the “holder is entitled to apply [it] towards purchasing goods or services covered by the voucher”. When a consumer purchases bitcoins they are not entitled as the holder of those bitcoins to apply them towards good or services. There are some merchants who accept bitcoins but this isn’t any different than merchants willing to barter for other goods. Since there’s no entitlement it seems unlikely that a bitcoin purchase could be considered a gift card purchase under the CPA.
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