Universal Recognition Token

American corporations spend over $90 billion each year on employee gifts to be awarded via employee recognition programs that acknowledge outstanding employee achievement. Typically, these gifts come in the form of gift cards or merchandise. Although some employees receive gifts they want and appreciate, a not insignificant amount of the time these gifts are seen as unwanted or undesirable by employees. Consequently, many gifts are discarded altogether by employees. We propose to monetize the market of unwanted corporate gifts by matching those gifts with individuals wishing to purchase them using blockchain- technology such as smart contracts. Employees will be able to liquidate their unwanted gifts for cash or marketplace points (at the employer’s option) and do in an immutable and traceable way; value realized by gifts in this manner can be spent on alternate gifts or saved toward a future gift of greater value (employee’s option). Accurate market-demand information regarding offered prizes will become available via this system; relative demand as well as customer-driven price data will be available to employers to better select prizes and prize vendors for future gifts.