Shoppers Would Welcome an Amazon Cryptocurrency

Source: Market Watch

amazon crypto big.jpg

Shoppers would welcome an Amazon cryptocurrency, survey says
By Aaron Hankin
Published: Feb 27, 2018 2:04 p.m. ET

If customers of online retail giant Amazon are to be believed, the idea of a Jeff Bezos-launched digital currency could be a hit.

According to a recent survey of 1,000 Amazon AMZN, +0.03% customers, more than half of the respondents were down with the idea of Amazon entering the virtual currency world, and only 1 in 5 opposed the idea.

“Just a little over half of the respondents, 51.7%, answered ‘yes’ to the idea of using an Amazon-created cryptocurrency — perhaps dubbed Amazon Coins — for future purchases on the website,” the LendEDU survey found.

“Additionally, of those with Amazon Prime, 58.27% said they would consider using a cryptocurrency created by the company,” LendEDU said.

The idea might be a case of putting the cart before the horse. Amazon doesn’t even accept payments in bitcoin BTCUSD, -1.82% or other cryptocurrencies. On the other hand, Amazon in 2013 snapped up the website amazonbitcoin.com, which redirects visitors to the home page of Amazon.

And in November 2017, Amazon registered three virtual currency-related domain names: amazonethereum.com, amazoncryptocurrency.com, amazoncryptocurrencies.com. However, the speculation a crypto-related move was imminent was quickly thwarted when Amazon said it registered the domain names to protect its brand name.

It should be noted that Amazon does sell ‘Amazon Coins.’ However, while they may seem like a currency, they simply act as digital vouchers to spend on Kindle Fire apps and games. Furthermore, the coins cannot be resold or transferred.

While a fully-fledged Amazon digital currency remains a pipe dream for cryptocurrency aficionados, it does make for an intriguing discussion.

“However, the potential for using an Amazon-created virtual currency to make purchases on the site even more streamlined is certainly tantalizing,” LendEDU said.

Amazon didn’t reply to a request for comment.