In the last years, cryptocurrencies have grown in importance on the world’s economy. Today, you can find different types of cryptocurrencies, where Bitcoin is the most popular digital coin in the market, but not the only one.
Many companies created their cryptocurrency to compete on the market and joined the craziness that is mining through blockchains to obtain the wanted coin. Although it is still only speculation, there are rumours that one of these companies will be the well-known online company Amazon.
For those who may not know, Amazon is one of the oldest e-commerce stores on the internet. It has developed through the years to become a potency in the online network, competing closely with Google, Apple, and Facebook.
It started in 1994, founded by Jeff Bezos. It was a place to sell books online, and through the years the number of things that you could buy and sell through it became larger and larger. Today, the name Amazon is related to many online service and products, and it is considered the top company on fast and safe delivery.
The expansion of the company is notorious. Amazon has diversified in many different areas like publishing, TV shows, and many other subsidiaries for the commerce of various online products, like downloading music and videos.
Since November 2017, there have been many rumours and speculation going around about whether Amazon was joining the cryptocurrency market or not. The vice president of the company, Patrick Gaulthier, has responded to these rumours by commenting that the Amazon group wouldn’t do business with commerce based on speculation.
However, actions speak otherwise. On the mentioned date, there were reports that the online company acquired at least three domain names related to blockchains and cryptocurrency. It has been discussed that the protection of the Amazon brand could be behind those actions so that the company could be sure that no other could try to use the name for an unrelated company that could give them problems and bad publicity in the future.
Although that is a strong possibility, and the company could afford to do it without it affecting their income, the chances are that there must be other plans behind those actions.
Amazon is now offering a blockchain service, together with the app Amazon QLDB which is a ledger database that will help beginners and experts navigate through the blockchain and cryptocurrencies networks easily. It could be safe to assume that the next logical step would be starting its cryptocurrency to compete on the market.
Although Amazon has managed to stay away from the cryptocurrency up to a certain point, it seems that it won’t be able to skip it for long. Some companies related to it are already making plans to launch a cryptocurrency of their own. It means that Amazon will need to create and develop programs to support the new digital coin, or it will have to launch a cryptocurrency.
The perspective of a cryptocurrency developed and managed by a company like Amazon would mean a significant boost on the blockchain industry. Investors and traders will follow the development of the currency with eager eyes, as it has many possibilities to become a robust digital coin. This fact can have different consequences, good or bad, depending on the actions and the way the company deals with it.
For example, it could give foot to other companies to develop their cryptocurrency, which would fill the market with many different digital coins. This problem could lead to an unorganized and chaotic situation. Still, it can also give many options to other investors, having access to the new cryptocurrency, and even securing it like Bitcoin and Ethereum, which could make a stable economy inside online commerce.
Curiously enough, the company still doesn’t accept purchases on Bitcoin or any other digital coin on their webpage. However, some people can use their Bitcoins indirectly, buying Amazon Gift Cards with it and then proceeding to make their purchases.
One of the possible reason for this decision is that Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies, although strong, are volatile. The prices of the Bitcoin change continuously, so it is challenging to establish the correct equivalent of the other more stable currencies. The cryptocurrencies regulations are also in development. Nothing can guarantee that the cryptocurrencies will survive in the long run, although Bitcoin has over a decade since it started.
Some think that the problem with Bitcoins comes from the founder of the company itself, Jeff Bezos, who seems to be against the cryptocurrency, considering it a trendy but forgettable fashion of the moment. Whatever the cause may be, it is possible that unless Bitcoins proves that it can be sustained as a stable digital coin, Amazon will not accept it as a valid currency.
As soon as the native payment is not supported you can use third party services like Purse.io to buy on amazon with bitcoins.
There are plenty of indicators that, one way or another, Amazon cannot stand utterly indifferent to the increasing of cryptocurrency. The Amazon group has proved to be a company that focuses on those assets that are safe and strong to invest and avoid taking significant risks. Still, the actions that the company has taken over the last two years show that they must have considered the possibility of changing those statements.
If Amazon decides to take the next step and launch its cryptocurrency, it won’t come as a surprise that the cryptocurrency market will grow exponentially. The acceptance of a company as extensive as Amazon will allow the cryptocurrencies to be accepted by other smaller companies, and it will catapult as a stable and robust market.
However, most of the information is still speculation based on the purchase that the company made of a few domain names and the guesses of some investors about the meaning of it. Amazon hasn’t made any statements on the subject, so no one can be sure of what will be the future between Amazon and cryptocurrencies.
Sources
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_(company)
https://www.investopedia.com/news/why-did-amazon-buy-cryptocurrency-urls/
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/company-insights/090216/when-will-amazon-accept-bitcoin-amzn.asp
Image by kirstyfields from Pixabay
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