Cryptocurrencies are gaining increasing relevance in today’s world and a
Cryptocurrencies are gaining increasing relevance in today’s world and a lot of the top companies are catching up to the trend. Given that Amazon is one of the biggest companies out there, you may have wondered: does Amazon accept Bitcoins? Well, let us find out.
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We know that other behemoths like Microsoft accept Bitcoin payments and that giants such as Starbucks have also made their foray into the world of cryptocurrencies.
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About Amazon, there remains a great deal of speculation: is it already accepting cryptocurrencies? Is it about to start any time soon? Let’s delve a little deeper to find out if all this speculation has any substance.
Amazon’s Crypto Connection
Back in 2017, reports emerged suggesting that Amazon had booked certain domain names very distinctly related to cryptocurrencies. These included domain names such as amazoncryptocurrency.com , amazonethereum.com , amazoncryptocurrencies.com etc. Naturally, these headlines sparked definite interest in Amazon’s crypto connection.
These domain names were all linked to a company called Amazon Technologies Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon, meant to register, file and process patents.
Amazon seems to be stocking up on Bitcoin and crypto-related domain names, like the one called amazonbitcoin.com, which it reportedly bought long back in 2013. Many years have lapsed but Amazon is still yet to make any concerted use of these domain names.
In November 2017, Amazon Pay’s VP Patrick Gauthier clarified to CNBC that the company was simply trying to protect its brand name in the wake of the crypto expansion and had no plans to actually accept Bitcoins any time soon.
Besides cryptocurrencies, Amazon has also had brushes with blockchain, perhaps more enduring ones that its vague trysts with virtual assets.
The Amazon Web Services or AWS platform does provide blockchain solutions and the company has given indications of considering Hyperledger solutions soon as well.
However, Amazon definitely does not accept cryptocurrencies as of now.
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Will Amazon Accept Crypto Payments Soon?
Although reports suggest that there is a lot of interest in Bitcoin and other virtual assets among those at the helm of this company, Jeff Bezos and his team are still uncertain about introducing crypto payments.
Reasons for their hesitation include concerns over crypto’s damning volatility, issues with refunds (cryptocurrency transactions cannot be reversed, making refunds more complex) and adoption issues.
With all these concerns in mind, it is unlikely that Amazon will start accepting cryptocurrencies in the near future at least.
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