Cryptocurrency is everywhere in 2021, and thanks to a recent report, it might be coming soon to Amazon as a new payment method. Crypto has been around for years, but ever since the beginning of 2020, it’s taken off like never before. Bitcoin and Ethereum reached all-time highs, smaller cryptos like Dogecoin came into the spotlight, and it seems like more people than ever are actively talking about these things all the time.
Perhaps more importantly, cryptocurrency is making a legitimate impact on some of the most iconic companies in the world. Tesla (briefly) allowed customers to pay for its cars using Bitcoin, Apple published a job posting this past May for someone to lead its work on ‘Alternative Payments,’ and Square recently announced its desire to sell a physical Bitcoin wallet. People talking about cryptocurrency on Twitter is one thing, but seeing it trickle into the business world is something else entirely.
Following in the footsteps of Tesla, Apple, and Square, it looks like Amazon is the next tech giant to start taking crypto seriously. As first spotted by Bloomberg, Amazon has published a job listing for a “Digital Currency and Blockchain Lead.” In the description of the job post, Amazon says the person in this position would be asked to “leverage your domain expertise in Blockchain, Distributed Ledger, Central Bank Digital Currencies and Cryptocurrency to develop the case for the capabilities which should be developed, drive overall vision and product strategy, and gain leadership buy-in and investment for new capabilities.” That might sound like gibberish, but it essentially translates to this: Amazon wants to start letting people pay for things on its site with crypto.
Why Crypto On Amazon Would Be Huge
One of the biggest struggles for cryptocurrency right now is its lack of adoption. It’s extremely easy to buy and sell coins on various apps, but when it comes to actually paying for things with crypto, that’s where things get tricky. Amazon is one of the largest companies in the world, and if allowed shoppers to checkout with cryptocurrency, that would shine a huge spotlight on its legitimacy. Whether someone wanted to buy a new couch, shirt, video game, or any of the other millions of products on Amazon, being able to purchase them with crypto would be huge.
While a job posting doesn’t guarantee that a company will follow through with an idea like this, it’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time Amazon’s name has been associated with the crypto world. City A.M. from the UK recently reported that Amazon is ‘definitely’ working on Bitcoin payments for its customers, in addition to exploring the creation of its own crypto. Amazon also previously commented that it’s “inspired by the innovation happening in the cryptocurrency space and are exploring what this could look like on Amazon,” also adding that it hopes to “bring that future to Amazon customers as soon as possible.”
It’s unclear when exactly cryptocurrencies will come to Amazon, and it’s also unknown if any currencies outside of Bitcoin will be accepted. Even so, it seems pretty clear that Amazon is eager to enter the crypto world sooner rather than later. Doing so will give Amazon massive points with crypto fans, open the doors to cryptocurrency in a considerable way, gives Amazon another avenue for continuing to grow its already massive business.
