Andy Jassy – CEO of Amazon – recently told CNBC that the company could sell Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) in the distant future. However, he said that the company won’t begin accepting cryptocurrency payments anytime soon and that he doesn’t personally hold any Bitcoin.
- Jassy’s interview took place shortly after releasing his first annual shareholder letter on Thursday. The letter itself made no mention of Bitcoin, crypto, or NFTs.
- However, when asked about them directly, Jassy said he could picture the e-commerce giant selling NFTs “down the road”. NFTs are one-of-a-kind digital assets with official ownership recorded on a blockchain such as Ethereum or Solana.
- “You know, I expect that NFTs will continue to grow very significantly,” Jassy said.
- Other internet giants including Twitter and Instagram have also decided to integrate NFTs into their platforms, though not to sell any directly.
- Jassy showed similar optimism for crypto, predicting that it would become “bigger” over time. However, he doesn’t believe Amazon is close to “adding crypto as a payment mechanism in [its] retail business”.
- Last year, Amazon looked toward hiring a cryptocurrency and blockchain product lead, shortly after Jassy took over as CEO. However, rumors about Amazon planning to accept Bitcoin for payments were debunked days later.
- “I don’t have Bitcoin myself,” he clarified during the interview.
- Though Amazon remains closed to crypto, rival e-commerce giant Shopify has partnered with Strike to integrate Bitcoin payments. The latter company is attempting to bring lightning network technology to merchants across the globe to provide them with lower fees.
- In an interview on What Bitcoin Did in February, Strike CEO Jack Mallers claimed to have been introduced to Jeff Bezos already.