regulating the money the company holds for you
The store isn't really holding money for the consumer though, is it?
A gift card is basically a prepayment for an unspecified later purchase. Even if they're required to redeem them in cash, that would presumably just be treated the same way refunds are treated.
You are right. Prepayment is the term.
But it does make me think that I can "pay" for ecash tokens.
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Sure, but who's the analogue of the store, then?
Is it more like a Visa gift card? People probably think of that more as Visa having custody of your money.
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I think the mint is the analogue store.
There is a lot of language in the gift card laws about the card only being redeemed at the company it came from. This is true of fedimints and Cashu mints I think even in the case where you are interacting with a LN gateway or another mint. The gateway and mint both have to "redeem" the ecash at the original mint. So that's another similarity.
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