You can buy gift cards with the cash. Gift cards as a concept are so funny to me. As a recipient, I would always want cash over a gift card. As a gift giver, I'd think "if I was receiving this gift, I wouldn't want a gift card, so why would I give it to someone else".

But they exist, and they're huge. Obviously merchants love them for the float and captive customer spending more than the gift card balance. Businesses might love them to give out to employees since it's not taxed income, and similarly, money launderers would like them.

I guess I could see some niche use, like wanting to give a child funds for a movie ticket, but to avoid them using it for other purposes you restrict it by giving a movie gift card. But I don't see that supporting a large market.