27th January 2023 > > Amazon.

tl;dr

Amazon is starting to make its crypto moves which is going to come as a disappointment to the naysayers.

Market Snap

Market Wrap

A brief spike threatened $24k but with little conviction. Today is options expiry day which sometimes leads to greater volatility but with all prices above $20k favouring call options it is most likely a non-event.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary — Amazon

I have been waiting to write about Amazon in the context of cryptos for some years now. Finally, I now get my chance, and this might be exciting news.

Blockworks has reported from unofficial sources that Amazon is launching an NFT (non-fungible token) initiative this coming Spring, in contrast to the prevailing narrative that NFTs are a busted flush.

Last April, Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon raised the prospect of Amazon selling NFTs but with limited enthusiasm “… Yeah, I think it’s down the road”.

AWS (Amazon Web Services) recently signed an agreement with Ava Labs – creator of the Avalanche blockchain - to provide blockchain technology services including the hosting of chain nodes and networks.

Now one of Blockworks’ sources has said “… coming into the space is a big one for crypto for many different reasons” which raises some very tantalising prospects. The source continues “We knew it was possible. But now it seems like it’s really happening. That’s going to affect the existing players in the space — if they execute and do this right and are smart about it.”

The holy grail is the provision of custodial crypto wallets by Amazon, and the use of cryptos for payment for goods. Again, last April Andy was not particularly forthcoming on these topics:

“We’re not probably close to adding crypto as a payment mechanism in our retail business, but I do believe over time that you’ll see crypto become bigger and—it’s possible [that Amazon integrates crypto payments].”

Oh, happy days when that stance changes for the better.