By
Chimamanda U. Martha
April 25th, 2024
According to James Altucher, experienced trader and venture capitalist, Amazon will start accepting Bitcoin as a new method of payment as early as in October.
The rumors that Amazon is considering introducing support for bitcoin payments as soon as October arose over the weekend.
All the speculation is built on the report, which has been published by Squawker.org. The material is based on James Altucher’s newsletter, who, according to the source:
“[James Altucher] has (co)founded more than 20 companies, authored 11 books, and has been a contributor to several major publications. He is a former hedge fund manager and venture capitalist turned activist blogger/podcaster and offers a subscription based mailing list – the source of the Amazon information.”
In this alleged guidance, Mr. Altucher claims that Amazon has no chance but begin accepting bitcoin as a new method of payment in the near future:
“I’m certain that Amazon WILL ACCEPT bitcoin. They have no choice. And this will be the tipping point that will create massive generational wealth unlike we’ve ever seen before.”
According to the expert, Amazon could make the announcement during its next investor call scheduled for October, 26.
When it comes to reasoning of the Amazon’s prospective decision, he sticks to the point, that Amazon can no longer ignore bitcoin, when eBay, its biggest competitor, has already expressed interest in accepting this kind of payment.
Patrick Byrne, Overstock CEO, who seems to be of the same point of view, said:
“They have to follow suit. I’d be stunned if they don’t, because they can’t just cede that part of the market to us, if we’re the only main, large retail site accepting Bitcoin.”
However, there are those, who doesn’t believe in the possible changes, stating that they are highly unlikely to happen.
As far as this is not the first time the rumors regarding Amazon and cryptocurrency payments arise, some people argue, that the retail giant shows no interest in any additional payment methods right now. The main reason for this, according to the followers of such point of view, is that it simply doesn’t make much sense for Amazon to venture into cryptocurrency due to market’s volatility and quite a niche character of this payment method.
All in all, the fact, that Amazon has neither denied nor confirmed the claim, makes all the rumors be nothing more than wishful thinking.
Still, that doesn’t mean things won’t change in the future. This perspective looks even more apparent given that Amazon has already been working with Digital Currency Group, one of the biggest investors in cryptocurrency technology, back in 2016.
Also, the fact that a number of giant retailers alike have already taken the crypto path (earlier this year two biggest retailers in Japan, Bic Camera and Recruit Lifestyle, entered partnerships with bitcoin exchanges to start accepting the cryptocurrency) certainly adds some optimism about the future of Amazon vs. bitcoin relationship.