Andy Jassy, Amazon’s CEO, said the company is not close to accepting cryptocurrencies as a payment option for retail customers.
Andy Jassy, Chief Executive Officer of Amazon.com Inc, told CNBC on Thursday that the e-commerce giant is not close to adding cryptocurrency to its retail business.
He also said that it might be possible to sell non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on its e-commerce platform, adding that NFTs will continue to grow “significantly.”
Blockchain-based digital assets, called NFTs, have exploded in popularity in 2021, with NFT artworks fetching millions in value.
Jassy predicts cryptocurrencies will grow in the long run, though he himself does not own any bitcoin.
Many companies are now accepting virtual currencies as payment, bringing an asset class shunned by major financial institutions until just a few years ago into the mainstream.
The first e-commerce company to take advantage of the NFT frenzy was eBay Inc., which allowed the sale of NFTs for digital collectibles such as trading cards, images, and videos on its platform last year.
Ebay had also expressed an interest in accepting cryptocurrency as a payment method in the future.
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On the side note, a Tauranga school class is raising awareness of investment scams after a teacher was scammed over $5000 by a fake cryptocurrency trading site.
According to Netsafe, investment scams have increased since last year, as scammers take advantage of people who wish to enter the crypto world.
Deon Wessels is a retiree looking for ways to fund his eventual retirement. While he was doing some pre-training research for a crypto-trading course, he made a mistake he later learned was costly.
He entered his Whatsapp number during his research and received a message from a “fellow crypto novice” who convinced him to give Earning Field a try and invest a small amount to gain confidence.
He bought cryptocurrency from a legitimate dealer and transferred it from the dealer’s wallet to Earning Field, thereby severing links with any traceable money transfer.
In 2018, Earning Field claims to be the best investment plan, offering plans users can invest in that range in percentage earnings based on their investment amount, with the most expensive earning promising a 30 percent return.
Initially, Wessel invested $100. Following 24 hours, he received a 15 percent return and was able to withdraw the full amount of money.
Eventually, the Whatsapp user convinced him to invest in the more expensive plans.
Upon trying to withdraw his money from the plan, Wessel was told he had to invest US$1000 every week for six weeks as part of additional conditions he was not told about; if he wanted to withdraw he could withdraw half of the total investment.
In his attempt to pull out of the investment, Wessel was told to invest into another plan since his system “could not handle the change” and then asked to provide multiple additional payments to the company.
“Stupid me again transferred money in the hope of getting out,” he said.
In an instant, alarm began to ring for Wessel and he realized he had lost over NZ$5000 that he could never get back.
“Bottom line, if you suspect something is off, bailout immediately – don’t dig in deeper because the losses only grow as they are professionals,” he says.
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