Will Amazon accept bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies as a payment option soon? There has been lots of talk in Silicon Valley about Amazon and its innovative approach. What is taking Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, so long?
There’s no doubt that Amazon monitors the cryptocurrency space closely. On 31 August 2017 Amazon registered three cryptocurrency-themed domain names:
- Amazonethereum.com
- Amazoncryptocurrency.com
- Amazoncryptocurrencies.com
Amazon already owns the domain amazonbitcoin.com which redirects to amazon.com. The other three domains are just parked for now.
Quick facts about Amazon
Amazon is the leading e-retailer in the United States (net sales $136 billion in 2016). Amazon is not just a marketplace and online shopping platform. It is indeed one of the three biggest search engines in the world (right after Google and YouTube). Amazon (NASDAQ stock exchange symbol: AMZN) is nowadays also considered one of the most valuable brands worldwide.
Amazon does not plan to accept cryptocurrency yet
Patrick Gauthier, Vice President of Amazon Pay, has said that Amazon does not plan to accept cryptocurrency for now because there isn’t enough demand for it. The majority of online payments are done via debit or credit cards. The argument sounds reasonable, but on the other hand, we cannot really count how many customers would prefer to pay with cryptocurrency until Amazon actuallly gives them a chance to do it.
The registration of domain names by Amazon is probably just for defensive purposes.
Amazon does not have any plan for now, but its attitude speaks for itself. The question is when Amazon will integrate cryptocurrency as a payment option, because when it happens it is going to have enormous consequences.
