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by Kevin Helms
Amazon is reportedly planning to accept bitcoin for payments, after which the company will roll out support for other major cryptocurrencies. “The directive is coming from the very top … Jeff Bezos himself.”
Following the news of Amazon seeking to hire a digital currency and blockchain lead, City A.M. publication
Citing “an insider” at the company, the news outlet reported that Amazon is looking to accept bitcoin payments “by the end of the year” and the company is also investigating its own token for 2022.
Amazon “isn’t just going through the motions to set up cryptocurrency payment solutions at some point in the future,” the insider claims, adding that its crypto project “is a full-on, well-discussed, integral part of the future mechanism of how Amazon will work.” She elaborated:
It begins with bitcoin – this is the key first stage of this crypto project, and the directive is coming from the very top … Jeff Bezos himself.
“This entire project is pretty much ready to roll,” the insider revealed, emphasizing that “It won’t take long because the plans are already there, and they have been working on them since 2019.”
Noting that Amazon’s directors were keen to move forward with adding support for other big cryptocurrencies once a fast and secure method of bitcoin payment is established, she said:
Ethereum, cardano and bitcoin cash will be next in line before they bring about eight of the most popular cryptocurrencies online.
Besides accepting crypto payments, Amazon is also exploring launching its own coin, the insider explained. “When all these crypto ducks are lined up, there’s another twist to push things even further into Amazon’s favour – a native token,” she opined, adding:
After a year of experiencing cryptocurrency as a way of making payments for goods, it is looking increasingly possible that we’re heading towards tokenisation.
“This then becomes a multi-level infrastructure where you can pay for goods and services or earn tokens in a loyalty scheme,” she described.
Editor’s Note (July 27, 2021, 4:37 p.m. EDT): After publication, Bloomberg reported that a spokesperson for Amazon said: “Notwithstanding our interest in the space, the speculation that has ensued around our specific plans for cryptocurrencies is not true. We remain focused on exploring what this could look like for customers shopping on Amazon … We’re inspired by the innovation happening in the cryptocurrency space and are exploring what this could look like on Amazon. We believe the future will be built on new technologies that enable modern, fast and inexpensive payments, and hope to bring that future to Amazon customers as soon as possible.”
