My Local Token is now available for anyone to use at participating Staunton businesses in time for the holiday season.
Traipse is pleased to announce a new app, My Local Token, that will benefit shoppers and local businesses alike in time for the holiday season. My Local Token (MLT) is a new payments app, like Venmo or Paypal, but can only be used at participating local businesses. The app is designed to save those small businesses money on credit card transactions, to allow businesses to easily create exclusive offers and discounts, and will give shoppers the satisfaction of knowing their money is staying local.
“The My Local Token app is a great alternative to the ever popular downtown gift card and I love the fact that the app keeps the money in the city,” said Sheryl Wagner, Director of Tourism for the City of Staunton.
Shoppers can purchase and store MLT from the app’s website, www.MyLocalToken.org, or by purchasing physical gift cards at MLT Sales Outlets. A gifting mechanism was recently introduced in the app which gives users the ability to quickly and easily create holiday stocking stuffers for friends and family, and those gifts can be used by anyone, even if they don’t have a smartphone.
“We’ve long been ardent supporters of small businesses through our scavenger hunts, and when the opportunity came up to build a platform that could directly help the economy of Staunton we leapt at the chance,” said Darren Smith, Traipse Founder and CEO. “With My Local Token, Main Streets and tourism departments across the country now have a powerful tool to support their merchants and to keep shopping dollars close to home.”
Development of the MLT app was made possible with support from the Celo ecosystem. Traipse launched the platform after a trial period in Staunton with the help of the Staunton Downtown Development Association, a merchant focus group, and a few dozen enthusiastic testers. Now, the app is available for everyone to download and use.
ABOUT TRAIPSE
Founded in 2014 and based in Staunton, VA, Traipse Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) originally launched a free smartphone application of the same name that leads users on a scavenger hunt walking tour of landmarks and local businesses. Now, Traipse has launched a payments and rewards platform called My Local Token which partners with Main Streets, tourism organizations, and more in their efforts to support their communities. My Local Token is freely available for iOS (Apple) and Android devices and can be downloaded at: www.MyLocalToken.org.
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