Amazon CEO Andy Jassy Reveals Where The Company Stands on Crypto and NFTs

This morning, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy was interviewed on CNBC and he revealed the company isn’t ready to accept cryptocurrencies yet.

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“We’re not probably close to adding crypto as a payment mechanism in our retail business, but I do believe over time that you’ll see crypto become bigger,” Jassy CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin in a “Squawk Box” interview.

Last year, the company appeared to have a job opening that suggested the online retailer may embrace crypto soon. But since there has been very little news about that possibility.

Other marketplaces have been waiting to adopt crypto as well. None of the other larger online marketplaces such as eBay, Facebook, Walmart.com, or Etsy accept cryptocurrencies.

Newegg, the tech-focused marketplace, is about the only outlier among the top marketplaces in the US that have openly embraced and expanded the acceptance of cryptocurrencies.

Amazon on NFTs

Jassy also discussed the growth of NFTs (nonfungible tokens) and believes Amazon could one day become a place where they are sold. “I think it’s possible down the road on the platform,” he said.

NFTs are digital assets such as digital music, art, photos, virtual worlds, etc. that are stored on a blockchain and can be sold and traded. Sales of NFTs jumped to $17 billion in 2021, according to one report, which is why the interest is growing so much in their availability on “legacy” online marketplaces.

eBay entered the NFT space last year by opening the platform to trusted sellers. It also plans to roll out its eBay Vault later this year, which it said would enable fractional ownership of alternative assets. This likely would be based on NFTs but we’ll have to wait until we see the full details of this vault initiative.

Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg suggested recently that Instagram could enter the NFT space soon.

During his talk at SXSW, he said he envisioned items such as avatar clothing in the Metaverse to be sold as NFTs on Instagram. But Zuckerberg also acknowledged there is still a way to go as many technical issues have to be resolved first.

Etsy has been pretty quiet about NFTs in general and there doesn’t seem to be a significant movement by the company to enter the space.

The marketplace does have a policy page about NFTs if they are sold alongside a physical good on the platform. But that page essentially says they take no responsibility for the transfer of NFTs as that transfer takes place off-platform.

While NFTs are growing significantly in popularity, it’s pretty obvious that major marketplaces are slow to embrace them and are taking a go-slow or wait-and-see approach.

Currently, OpenSea, Rarible, and Mark Cuban-backed Mintable are some of the better-known NFT marketplaces but none have the brand recognition of Amazon, eBay, Etsy, or Instagram.

If Amazon decided to enable sales of NFTs that could greatly shake up the market. Jassy opening the door for that possibility is interesting, but it doesn’t sound like this is something that will happen in the short term.