Amazon CEO Drops Disappointing News For Crypto Owners

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By Monica J. White/April 14, 2022 12:41 pm EDT

If you've been hoping to one day be able to pay for your next Amazon impulse purchase with cryptocurrency, today's news may come as a disappointment. Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon, said in an interview that he doesn't envision the platform adding crypto as a payment method anytime soon. However, the news is not all bad — Jassy acknowledged that he believes crypto will only continue to grow and went on to say much the same about non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

NFTs are digital assets with assigned ownership. Buying an NFT can be likened to buying a painting from an art gallery — you are the only owner of this particular NFT, and you are the only one who can sell it or hold it until it (ideally) grows in value. Of course, NFTs are a rather controversial topic these days, with countless people dismissing them as simple pictures that can be downloaded at any given time. However, as far as proof of ownership goes, NFTs are starting to be recognized as a legit form of owning digital assets. Andy Jassy seems to agree with that possibility.

Jassy spoke to CNBC following the release of his first annual shareholder letter after he took over from Jeff Bezos. He talked about crypto, revealing his stance on both digital currencies and NFTs. Although he suggested that he doesn't own either bitcoin or NFTs, Jassy is optimistic about the future of these two technologies. As a result, he doesn't dismiss the possibility that Amazon may one day be involved with both. At the same time, he clarified that the platform is not close to adding crypto as a payment mechanism, but he acknowledges the growth of crypto in that very same sentence by clarifying that he does expect it to grow even bigger still.

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Amazon's CEO suggested that he envisions a bright future for non-fungible tokens as well. He stated that he expects to see significant growth from this technology. Jassy also believes that in the future, e-commerce giants such as Amazon may be involved in selling NFTs. Seeing as NFTs are not limited to simple pictures, and the proof of ownership, which is recorded on a blockchain, can be assigned to all manner of assets, the potential is definitely there. Music, art, and movies could all one day become NFTs on platforms that choose to involve this digital token system.

Whether one likes NFTs or not, it's hard to deny the intense growth the technology has seen over the past couple of years. According to a CNBC interview with the co-founder of Nonfungible.com, a whopping $17.6 billion worth of NFTs were traded in 2021. That's a 21,000% growth from 2020 — yes, twenty-one thousand percent. 

At the moment, there are no obvious signs of an ending to this exponential development. NFTs fluctuate in value a lot, just like cryptocurrency, and the market is highly volatile. Much like in crypto, some NFTs can be flipped for a massive profit, while others are a total bust. However, the idea that there is a growing number of people choosing to get involved with NFTs in one way or another is no longer a matter of opinion.

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The news is as validating as it is unsurprising. After all, most major online retailers don't accept cryptocurrency as a payment method yet. Tesla tried to use bitcoin and backed off quickly, although it still allows payments with dogecoin for some of its cheaper products. Until cryptocurrency becomes more widely accessible and easier to understand to the general public, it may continue to be shunned by the masses.

There's also the issue of crypto not being particularly eco-friendly. Ethereum and bitcoin are the two main culprits, with gigantic crypto-mining operations consuming staggering amounts of power on a daily basis. However, things may improve in that regard when Ethereum finally moves to a proof-of-stake model. The deadline for that continues to be a moving goalpost, but estimations point to the third quarter of 2022 right now.

While Jassy's words aren't great for those hoping to be able to pay for Amazon goods and services with cryptocurrency in the near future, it's undeniably encouraging that the Amazon CEO sees potential in both crypto and NFTs. The general public is still very split about crypto and NFTs, so for Jassy to make statements like he's done this week suggests that Amazon may have bigger plans for the tech than it's currently letting on.