Amazon Not Accepting Crypto As Payment Anytime Soon, CEO Says

Amazon (AMZN) Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy said that the e-commerce and cloud-computing giant is likely not close to accepting cryptocurrency as a payment option to its retail business, in an interview with CNBC on Thursday morning.

 

But he suggested that it might be possible to sell NFTs (non-fungible tokens) on its e-commerce platform in the future and expected NFTs to continue to grow “significantly.”

 

NFTs, a type of digital asset that exist on a blockchain, have exploded in popularity in 2021, with NFT artworks selling for millions of dollars.

 

A growing number of companies have started to accept virtual currencies for payment, bringing an asset class shunned by major financial institutions until a few years ago closer to the mainstream.

 

Last year, eBay allowed the sale of NFTs for digital collectibles like trading cards, images or video clips on its platform, the first e-commerce company to tap into the frenzy around NFTs.

 

Jassy also predicted that cryptocurrencies will continue to become bigger over time, but noted that he doesn’t own any bitcoin.

 

On Thursday, Jassy released his first annual shareholder letter since taking over as CEO from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos last year. The letter makes no mention of bitcoin, cryptocurrency or NFTs.

 

Last July, bitcoin prices rose on a report that Amazon finally denied that it planned to accept payments in bitcoin by the end of 2021.

 

Read more: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy Bullish About the Future of Crypto and NFTs