Is Amazon Getting Primed for Cryptocurrencies?

There has been a lot of uplifting news related to Bitcoin and the prospect of the cryptocurrency becoming mainstreamed. Less than two weeks ago Jack Dorsey the CEO of the fintech powerhouse Square, said Square
is building a decentralized finance business using bitcoin. Last week the Ark Invest sponsored conference named The
B Word featured celebrity CEOs such as Elon Musk and Cathie Wood touting the benefits of Bitcoin. This morning speculators in the asset woke up to a much more subtle reason to be optimistic. Amazon, the mega-giant of online retailers, ran a help wanted ad. The ad was for a “digital currency and blockchain lead.”

Certainty as to what Amazon’s plans are is not available outside the confines of the higher echelons of Amazon. However, the widely embraced hunch is that the open position is to create a team responsible for how Amazon’s customers pay on its platforms. The possibility that the most influential leader in high tech retailing may begin to accept the currency sparked a 12% increase to levels not experienced in six weeks.

“…in this role you will:

· Own the vision and strategy for Amazon’s Digital Currency and Blockchain strategy and product roadmap

· Write documents that work backwards from customer and partner needs
· Dive deep into customer and system data to perform analysis
· Partner effectively with other leaders in product, design, marketing, engineering, science and business intelligence to influence priorities and drive alignment
· Maintain excellent judgment on prioritization between focusing features, architectural improvements and operational excellence

· Monitor project execution and ensuring that the project delivery is to the appropriate levels of quality and in line with target dates

Excerpt from Amazonjobs, Job ID: 1644513

London newspaper City A.M. quoted an anonymous source expressing that the job post is just the surface of a more committed push into the space. “It begins with bitcoin – this is the key first stage of this crypto project, and the directive is coming from the very top… Jeff Bezos himself,” according to the unnamed source. Bezos stepped down as CEO of Amazon in early July. He remains executive chairman of the board of directors. The unnamed source was also quoted by the London paper as saying, “Ethereum, Cardano, and Bitcoin Cash will be next in line before they bring about eight of the most popular cryptocurrencies online.” The source also claimed that Amazon’s crypto push has been in motion since 2019.

Take-Away

There has been a big move in recent weeks by influential CEOs to bring out the full potential of the more widely traded cryptocurrencies. The most recent impacted Bitcoin’s price by 12%, although it is not very definitive what Amazon’s plans are, and reports rely on anonymous sources. Looming over the entire market is the Fed which promised to release a position
paper on cryptocurrency this summer.

The crypto market has been experiencing weakness after reaching highs earlier this year. All of the recent news may have turned the negative trend around.

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