This is a really good idea. Openbucks turns gift cards from retailers into online purchasing and payment tools. The company aims to build “the world’s largest prepaid distribution network, leveraging existing popular gift card programs,” so the company is aiming high.

Ceridian Stored Value Solutions and Fifth Third Bank are providing the processing.

Openbucks is starting (the company is launching this week at TechCrunch Disrupt) with six Subway, CVS, Circle K, Citgo, Sports Authority and Hess locations. As of now, Openbucks is starting with enabling the use of the gift cards for online game purchases at sites like Bigpoint and Parallel Kingdom, but clearly there are applications well beyond online gaming. My question is this: Can consumers use, say, an Amazon gift card to buy a book at Barnes & Noble? There is the potential for so many thorny conflicts, but all in all, Openbucks seems like a smart approach to me, although the gift card business generally is a crowded space today.