Amazon Exec Says Company Decided Against Accepting Bitcoin
Amazon is not interested in embracing bitcoin, but it is looking into new digital payment services, possibly a service developed in-house, a new report suggests. The company's payments head Tom Taylor told Re/code that Amazon did indeed consider bitcoin, but eventually decided that there was not enough interest in the technology for Amazon to benefit from adopting it. Said Taylor: "Obviously, it gets a lot of press and we have considered it, but we're not hearing from customers that it's right for them, and don't have any plans within Amazon to engage bitcoin." Amazon's revenue in 2013 was....
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Surely you've heard of Overstock.com. If not, they're the huge online retailer (sort of like Amazon), and they're immensely popular. As it were, the Utah-based company has apparently considered accepting Bitcoin payments at some time, but decided now wasn't quite the right time. The news comes from a New York Times story published Wednesday (the story is about Bitcoin in the mainstream - a highly-suggested read): Patrick M. Byrne, chief executive of the online retailer Overstock.com, said his company was talking about accepting bitcoin, but it decided to pause its plans until legal matters....
One of the major points that Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne made when his company began accepting bitcoin payments was that rival retailers would be forced to accept the digital currency in order to remain competitive. Amazon, you could say, is an Overstock rival, but they don't have any interest in getting involved with bitcoin, according to a Re/code report. "Obviously it gets a lot of press and we have considered [accepting bitcoins]," said Tom Taylor, who leads the Amazon payments team, "but we're not hearing from customers that it's right for them and don't have any plans within Amazon....
Amazon has begun its search to hire a Digital Currency and Blockchain Product Lead, to enable modern and inexpensive payments to Amazon.
Is it fair to say that Amazon and bitcoin have had a rocky relationship? While major selling-havens like Overstock.com have been quick to embrace the digital currency’s stamina, the same cannot be said about Amazon. Bitcoin payments have never been advocated or accepted through the online mega-platform, but it looks as though things are changing. Amazon has begun accepting bitcoins “indirectly.” No, customers cannot actually use bitcoin to pay for goods and services yet, but transferring bitcoin to USD is certainly accepted. Amazon Direct now allows consumers to transfer any dollar amount....
This is what Amazon Wallet looks like. Amazon isn't new to the digital payments industry. The online retailer launched Amazon Payments back in 2007, a service that directly competes with the likes of PayPal and Google Wallet. Then in December 2013, Amazon purchased GoPago, a mobile payments platform. Now, continuing the company's push into the digital payments sector, Amazon has launched Amazon Wallet. What Amazon Wallet Does, Or Rather, Doesn't Do. Amazon Wallet is...surprisingly basic. Designed for use at the point-of-sale, Amazon Wallet is essentially an Android app that stores gift....