If you follow news in the crypto space, you might be wondering what could be happening with Amazon and the crypto space. For starters, the CEO of AMAZON – Andy Jassy- has hinted at the possibility of the company launching an NFT marketplace for its customers on 24th April, this year.
NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) are a class of digital assets, (based on blockchain technology) that represent ownership or proof of authenticity of a unique item or piece of content, such as digital art, music, videos, or other digital media. With Amazon’s hinting at entering the NFT marketplace, there are a couple of questions and expectations;
- Why is Amazon Entering the NFT marketplace?
- Is Amazon Launching its own (crypto) coin now or embracing crypto fully?
- What does this mean for crypto?
- What should you do?
Let’s begin
1. Why Is Amazon Entering the NFT Marketplace?
It is more likely that it is purely an extension of Amazon’s business model. Amazon is the global leader in the sales of physical goods (and some digital goods). The NFTs marketplace represents something that is yet to be fully captured and it is a large market. It makes logical sense for Amazon to provide a platform where these NFTs can be traded to the general public.
Opensea -the current “Amazon” for NFTs sold over $4.8 billion in January 2022 (according to data from Dunes.com) with several more listed on the marketplace. Also, data from Coinmarketcap suggest a market capitalization of over $20 billion. Amazon is probably looking forward to expanding this market and getting a good slice out of it.
2. What Does This Mean For Crypto?
It is true that the major big techs like Google, Facebook, and Amazon have not done so much for the growth of cryptocurrency in the past. Facebook had plans to launch its own coin back in 2019 – Libra, but it never took off, its current “blockchain-like” The Metaverse is not doing so well. They come heavy with regulations and centralizations which may not be best for the crypto ecosystem. One may then wonder if Amazon’s possible flirts with NFTs may bring something positive to crypto but here is why this may be different.
First, Amazon is a big platform, its creation of an NFT marketplace will generate trust and increase the legitimacy of the NFT space. This will generally will have a positive contribution to crypto adoption as most persons are very skeptical of the NFTs are the most. It will likely create a market boom for NFTs.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Partners With Ava Labs(Avalanche Blockchain)
Apart from launching its own NFT marketplace, Amazon through its Cloud Service Platform AWS is supporting the growth and development of the web 3. AWS partnered with Ava Labs in January 2023 to promote the development of the Web3 ecosystem. NFTs are a big part of this. Ava Labs are the research team behind the crypto project Avalanche. Amazon also integrated Ava Labs into its AWS Activate, a free program designed to help startups to build and scale by offering its members AWS credits, resources, tools, and expert advice.
3. Is Amazon Launching its own cryptocurrency?
No
4. What should you do?
Do nothing, Stay away from scams that claim to be Amazon projects. They are not launching any coin.
Conclusions
Amazon plans to create a marketplace for NFTs as it does with other goods it sells. This will likely improve people’s understanding of this class of digital(crypto) products and help drive crypto adoption better.
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