E-commerce giant Amazon is making its first move into the crypto industry as it plans to launch a non-fungible token (NFT) initiative sometime in Spring 2023.
Sources familiar with Amazon’s recent move, disclose that the giant tech company has been exploring ways to launch digital assets enterprise across its primary platform, and not via Amazon Web Services (AWS), also revealing that the company has partnered with over ten crypto projects to support its NFT initiative.
According to the report, Amazon will focus on different sectors with plans to dab into NFT gaming, with plans to reward players with unique items in the form of NFTs, for playing blockchain games.
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The e-commerce giant already offers its Prime service subscribers access to a video game platform. Members of this service can access the platform’s catalog and receive monthly rewards to claim AAA games. Reports suggest that Amazon has chosen crypto gaming and NFTs as the way to bolster its service.
The NFT platform is currently under development and could run on Amazon proper rather than in Amazon Web Services (AWS), as reports reveal that some of its employees that are working on the project are reaching out to family offices. The initial plan was to launch a single NFT collection, however, it has evolved into a gaming venture.
Commenting on Amazon’s plan to venture into the crypto industry, the company’s VP and Global Head of Startups at AWS Howard Wring said,
“Looking forward, web3 and blockchain are inevitable. No one can call the time or date or quarter that it’s going to happen and it’ll be mainstream, but we’ve seen the cycles of growth before. The velocity of this one seems like it’s accelerating and we’re just excited to be a part of this.”
As regards to online purchases, Amazon’s competitor eBay, has made significant attempts to get a strong foothold in the nascent sector. In that sense, the company purchased the NFT marketplace KnownOrigin.
The e-commerce platform targets a “much bigger audience” to become a “truly worldwide platform.” Meanwhile, Amazon could be pursuing similar objectives.
There is no doubt that crypto-related ventures are some of the hottest items in the technology sector currently.
There are so many big firms that have integrated crypto technology onto their platforms, big tech companies such as Alphabet, and Amazon, along with payments giant PayPal, Hedge funds, and retail investors are jumping on the crypto train as well.
As consumer’s preference for crypto offerings increases through institutional investments, it is clear that crypto is indeed the future of financial services, as startups that aim to solve crypto-related problems in the market have continued to gain popularity and increased patronage.