Is Amazon About to Announce a Proprietary Cryptocurrency Project?

Rick Steves

Amazon’s unannounced cryptocurrency project follows the steps of Facebook’s Libra, now Diem.

Amazon may very well be planning to launch a digital currency of its own. The project hasn’t been announced yet, but recent job posts may hint that way.

A job announcement for a Software Development Manager – Digital and Emerging Payments, found by Coindesk, states the company intends to “launch a new payment product starting with Mexico as our initial launch country. This product will enable customers to convert their cash into digital currency using which customers can enjoy online services including shopping for goods and/or services like Prime Video.”

Facebook was the first big tech company to announce a cryptocurrency project: Libra. In December 2020, it was rebranded as Diem.

The 27-strong Libra Association planned to launch digital versions of several currencies, plus a “digital composite” of all of its coins, in order to address backlash from regulators over its initial plan to create one synthetic coin backed by a basket of currencies.

Now, the plan is to launch a single coin backed one-for-one by the dollar – a stablecoin. Diem is not meant to rely on cryptocurrency mining. Only members of the Diem Association will be able to process transactions via the permissioned blockchain.

The Diem Association officially plans to transition to a permissionless proof-of-stake system within five years, but according to their own materials, no solution exists “that can deliver the scale, stability, and security needed to support billions of people and transactions across the globe through a permissionless network.”

The news that Amazon may be about to announce plans to launch a proprietary digital currency comes days after Tesla announcing it bought $1.5 billion in Bitcoin as it intends to start accepting Bitcoin payments in exchange for their products.

Many companies across the world have started to accept payments in cryptocurrencies years ago, but Tesla and CEO Elon Musk have become an inspiration to consumers, investors, and companies. Tesla will probably lead many other businesses to now do the same.

Read this next

Retail FX

Prop firm The Funded Trader shuts down, claims relaunch in April

Prop trading firm The Funded Trader has ceased all operations, with claims for a relaunch in the near future.

Digital Assets

Ethereum-Based Tokenized Real Estate Platform USP Launches On Republic

How This Californian Startup Is Revolutionizing Real Estate Investment through Ethereum-Based Tokenization.

Digital Assets

Sui Spikes in Weekly DEX Volume, Joins Top 10 of All Blockchains

March DEX volume on Sui stands at over $2.88B – up more than 49% from February – with decentralized exchange Cetus and wholesale liquidity layer DeepBook leading.

Digital Assets

Prisma Finance suffers $10 million crypto exploit, attack ongoing

Liquid staking protocol Prisma Finance fell victim to a security exploit on March 28, resulting in nearly $10 million in Prisma mkUSD and wrapped stETH being stolen by hackers.

Digital Assets

Masa and LayerZero: Bridging Blockchains for Data Sovereignty

Masa Network is poised to revolutionize the personal data landscape with its upcoming launch as a cross-chain platform, making it accessible on a variety of blockchains right from the start.

Digital Assets

Big Time Generates over $100M in Revenue since Preseason

Innovative game developer Big Time Studios announces that its highly anticipated free-to-play multiplayer action/MMO RPG Big Time, has generated $100M in revenue. According to the team, players transacted a total volume of over $230M, without selling a single token.

Digital Assets

Centralized exchanges are 10 times more popular than DEXs in Western Europe

Western European traders are found to prefer centralized exchanges over decentralized ones as CEX traffic outpaces DEXs by a factor of ten.

Market News

Stock Market Analysis: Is NVDA Losing Its Leadership?

Since the beginning of the week, the S&P 500 Index (US500) has seen a modest increase of about 0.58%, whereas NVDA’s share price has experienced a decline of approximately 3.8%. This recent divergence raises concerns among Nvidia stock investors — could it signify a loss of NVDA’s market leadership?

Industry News

ESG: Australian regulator wins first greenwashing court case against Vanguard

Vanguard admitted that a notable portion of the securities within both the Index and the Fund did not undergo the promised ESG scrutiny.

<