Redemption speed
Card design themes
Bulk cards at once
Countries supported
How it works
Three steps. No friction. Real money, delivered as a gift.
Choose amount & design
Pick any amount from your wallet balance. Add a personal message (up to 160 characters) and choose from four card designs β Default, Birthday, Business, or Celebration.
Share code or QR
Every card gets a unique AFL-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX code and a HMAC-signed QR. Share via WhatsApp, Telegram, or any channel β the code is the gift.
Recipient redeems instantly
The recipient enters the code or scans the QR in their AfriLink wallet. Balance is credited atomically β no processing delay, no partial states, no failed redemptions.
Everything you need in a gift card
π° Wallet-backed
Every card is backed by real AfriLink wallet balance. The issuer's wallet is debited atomically when the card is created β no IOUs, no float, no reconciliation risk.
π· QR Ready
Every card ships with a HMAC-SHA256-signed QR payload. Recipients scan from the AfriLink wallet camera or any QR reader β redemption completes in one tap.
π₯ All user types
Individuals, merchants, and agents can all issue and redeem gift cards. Cross-type redemption is fully supported β an agent-issued card can be redeemed by any consumer.
π Secure by design
Card codes are stored as SHA-256 hashes only β the plaintext never touches our database. A full DB dump cannot reconstruct a single code. Double-spend is prevented by SELECT FOR UPDATE.
π Personal message
Attach up to 160 characters of personal message to any card. The message is revealed only when the recipient redeems β not visible to anyone who intercepts the code.
π Cross-type redemption
Gift cards are universal within AfriLink. A merchant can redeem an individual-issued card. An agent can redeem a merchant-issued card. The balance always lands correctly.
π PIN protection
Optionally set a 4-digit PIN at issue time. The PIN is stored as a bcrypt hash β even AfriLink cannot recover it. The recipient must enter the PIN to redeem.
β³ Expiry control
Cards default to a 12-month expiry. Issuers can choose between 1 and 24 months. An automated daily sweep expires overdue cards and triggers a refund back to the issuer's wallet.
Built for security
π Hash-only storage
Gift card codes are generated with 256 bits of entropy from crypto.randomBytes(32) and immediately hashed with SHA-256. Only the hash reaches the database. If the entire database were leaked, not a single card code could be reconstructed.
List views show only the first 8 characters of each code as a prefix β enough to identify a card, never enough to redeem it.
βοΈ Atomic transactions
Card issuance and redemption both run inside database transactions. The wallet debit and card creation happen together β if either fails, neither is committed. The same applies to redemption: status update and wallet credit are atomic.
A UNIQUE constraint on the code hash means two concurrent redemption attempts physically cannot both succeed.
π‘οΈ Rate limiting & KYC tiers
Issuance is rate-limited to 10 cards per wallet per 24 hours (configurable in admin settings). Card value is capped by the sender's KYC tier β Tier 0 up to $50, Tier 1 up to $500, Tier 2 up to $5,000, Tier 3 unlimited.
HMAC-SHA256 signing in every QR payload means a scanned code that fails signature verification is rejected before any database lookup runs.
For merchants: bulk gift card programs
ποΈ Issue up to 100 at once
Merchants can batch-issue up to 100 gift cards in a single API call. Ideal for promotions, loyalty rewards, and employee gifting programs β all deducted from the merchant wallet in one atomic operation.
π @handle locking
Lock a card to a specific AfriLink @handle. Only that exact user can redeem it β useful for targeted loyalty rewards or VIP customer gifting where you want to prevent resale or transfer.
π Redemption tracking
The merchant dashboard shows every card issued: status (active, redeemed, expired, cancelled), redemption date, and redeemer type. Filter by date range, design, or status. Export data for your records.
π WhatsApp & Telegram share
Every issued card generates a one-tap WhatsApp and Telegram share link. Your customers receive the card in the messaging app they already use β no app download required to receive the gift.
Start sending gifts today
You need an AfriLink @handle to issue or redeem gift cards. Claim yours in under two minutes β no bank account required.