Is Amazon Creating Its Own Cryptocurrency?

By Prashant Jha

Considering Amazon is such a massive name in the e-commerce and tech space, there is naturally a great degree of speculation considering its prospective involvement with cryptocurrencies. Does Amazon accept Bitcoins? Is Amazon creating its own cryptocurrency? Questions are endless and rumours are rife on that front. Since, we, at BTCWIRES, have already answered the first of these two questions, it is time to answer the second.

Amazon’s flirtation with the world of crypto has not escaped the notice of netizens and enthusiasts.

Ever since an opinion piece in the Townhall suggested the possibility of Amazon making a foray into the crypto space and creating its very own crypto coin, observers have been eager to figure out Amazon’s intentions regarding the same.

You May Also Read: Does Microsoft Still Accept Bitcoins?

Today, we will have a look at how Amazon has interacted with the world of crypto in the past to get an insight into its future plans in the space.

Link Between Amazon and Cryptocurrencies

The idea that Amazon may be interested in cryptocurrencies was inspired by reports in 2017 that suggested Amazon was buying domain names that seemed to be directly connected to cryptocurrencies. Some of these were amazoncryptocurrency.com , amazonethereum.com , amazoncryptocurrencies.com etc. This move triggered rumours that Amazon would soon move into the space.

Moreover, the fact that Amazon had launched an Amazon Coin to be used for e-commerce suggested to people that it was a precursor to a virtual asset steeped in cryptographic principles.

In addition to these developments, Amazon has also been working with blockchain technology, which underlies cryptocurrencies. Its very own Amazon Web Services is based in blockchain.

Is Amazon Really Planning To Make A Cryptocurrency?

With regard to Amazon booking and registering crypto-related domain names, the company’s official, Amazon Pay Vice President Patrick Gauthier clarified to the media that Amazon was only booking these domain names so as to safeguard the intellectual property that is the Amazon brand name.

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It is common practice in business for brands to purchase domain names with their names to protect the brand power that lie in them.

As Amazon has not done anything with these domain names besides registering them even after nearly two years have gone by, we can safely assume Amazon is not going to use them any time soon.

Even though Amazon had indeed launched its Amazon Coin to be used on its platform, it was meant more to be used as a gift card rather than a true-blue virtual asset that can potentially be used as currency.

In fact, Amazon Coin could not be treated as currency or traded at an exchange like cryptocurrencies can be.

Therefore, based on these factors, it is safe to conclude that no semblance of a crypto plan has been sighted in Amazon. It is unlikely that Amazon will make a cryptocurrency of its own as Jeff Bezos is reportedly quite wary of the lack of regulations in this space.

Therefore, even though the Amazon top honcho may be interested in cryptocurrencies as a concept, he is expected to wait at least till cryptocurrencies are adequately regulated by the government to greenlight a native cryptocurrency project.

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Prashant Jha

As a content writer Prashant believes in presenting complex topics in simple laymen terms. He is a tech enthusiast and an avid reader.

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