Very thoughtful summary. I mostly agree with everything you've said.
One note on gift cards: in some European countries, gift cards can become "e-money" and must then be regulated as such if (I'm quoting from memory) their purpose and utility becomes "too universal", i.e. you can doo too many things with them. I've heard (I might be completely wrong, didn't verify) that Amazon gift cards are regulated as e-money in Sweden because of this: you can buy too much different stuff with it and people started using it for a money substitute.
Very thoughtful summary. I mostly agree with everything you've said.
One note on gift cards: in some European countries, gift cards can become "e-money" and must then be regulated as such if (I'm quoting from memory) their purpose and utility becomes "too universal", i.e. you can doo too many things with them. I've heard (I might be completely wrong, didn't verify) that Amazon gift cards are regulated as e-money in Sweden because of this: you can buy too much different stuff with it and people started using it for a money substitute.
Insane if you ask me.
Anyway, awesome post. Have a zap.