Why Block Rewards Believes Bitcoin Is the Future of Retail

In this episode of The Bitcoin Business Podcast, Brandon Karpeles is joined by Scott Dedels, Co-Founder of Block Rewards, a Bitcoin-native rewards platform that helps merchants incentivize loyalty and onboard new customers—without having to touch fiat systems.

Scott shares his journey from the corporate telecom world to full-time Bitcoiner, and how he’s now helping local businesses adopt Bitcoin as both a marketing tool and a long-term advantage.

They dive into:

- How Block Rewards lets customers earn Bitcoin without merchant friction
- Why loyalty points are dying—and why Bitcoin is better
- What small businesses really need to hear to start their Bitcoin journey
- How merchant onboarding is actually working in the wild
- The impact of “Bitcoin-as-a-reward” vs “Bitcoin-as-a-payment”
- Scaling local circular economies through networked incentives
- Why his team doesn’t force merchants to hold Bitcoin—and how it helps

Scott also talks about building trust with merchants, the challenges of branding Bitcoin to normies, and the surprising overlaps between loyalty marketing and sound money.If you’re building a Bitcoin product, running a retail business, or just interested in where Bitcoin meets commerce—this episode is for you.

- Block Rewards: https://blockrewards.ca
- Scott on Twitter: https://x.com/LanternBitcoin