What happened between Bitcoin and Amazon this week?
It has been a whirlwind week for Bitcoin loyalists and the Amazon ecosystem as the two worlds finally collided! But what’s the full story?
Mass adoption has long been a line in the sand for crypto maximalists. The scenario where cryptocurrencies are used globally by the public for everyday reasons on a large scale has arguably already begun. Can this really be true until a mammoth company like Amazon fully embraces the technology?
On Monday, a City A.M. reported Darren Parkin wrote that an Amazon insider said that the company is looking to begin accepting payments via Bitcoin “by the end of the year, and may even take a further step and create its own token for 2022.” This was further evidenced by the publishing of a job advertisement on July 22nd for a cryptocurrency and blockchain lead. Specifically, the advert asked for someone who can “leverage domain expertise in blockchain, distributed ledger, central bank digital currencies, and cryptocurrency”.
It also asks for the candidate to be able to “develop the case for the capabilities which should be developed, drive the overall vision and product strategy, and gain leadership buy-in and investment for new capabilities”.
This was such a monumental revelation in the crypto-sphere that the value of Bitcoin has since seen a sharp increase, much like almost every other major coin or token.
Amazon went on to deny the report, with a spokesperson stating that “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.”
It is worth mentioning that their denial seems to be reserved solely to the specifics of the plan, rather than the over-arching idea to implement some form of system to allow crypto payments in exchange for Amazon services.
This is not the first Big Tech company to have rumblings of crypto-enabling features being implemented or work on related products being done. Elon Musk has notoriously been s**tposting on the regular about Tesla, SpaceX, and the real wish for there to be integrated functions that allow for these kinds of transactions to take place.
What exactly did the insider claim?
Whilst it is seldom exciting to hear and read from company insiders divulging massive scoops to the media, it is important to keep in mind that corporations with media connections do this quite often. They do this, in part, to test the waters for their new products, and journalists are obviously happy to oblige – for better or for worse. The job advertisement definitely makes this easier to believe, and Amazon’s non-denial also raises eyebrows.
In their statement, the insider also added that “this isn’t just going through the motions to set up cryptocurrency payment solutions at some point in the future – this is a full-on, well-discussed, integral part of the future mechanism of how Amazon will work.”
“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,” she continued, going on to note that Bitcoin is not the only cryptocurrency that was discussed, as “Ethereum, Cardano and Bitcoin Cash will be next in line before they bring about eight of the most popular cryptocurrencies online.”
“It won’t take long because the plans are already there, and they have been working on them since 2019. This entire project is pretty much ready to roll.”
The insider went on to explain that once all this is in place, Amazon will be going for a native token, noting that “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.”
“There’s little more to it, for now, but you can guarantee the Bitcoin plan will be monitored closely as opportunities with Amazon’s own version of a crypto will be explored.”
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