According to Andy Jassy, the e-commerce giant could integrate NFTs later.
In an interview with CNBC after publishing his first letter to shareholders as Amazon’s new CEO, Andy Jassy said that while he does not own any cryptocurrencies or non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, he is optimistic about the prospects for the sector.
Jessy stated that, “We are probably not close to incorporating crypto as a payment mechanism in our retail business, but I do think that over time you will see crypto getting bigger. I expect NFTs to continue to grow very significantly.”
“You know, I expect that NFTs will continue to grow very significantly,” Jassy said Thursday.
He said he could envision a future where the e-commerce giant sells NFTs. A Blockchain stores ownership of NFTs, which are digital assets, from music to a website domain to digital artwork.
NFTs have exploded in popularity over the past year, and the technology has some overlap with cryptocurrency enthusiasts. Trading in NFTs hit $17.6 billion last year, an increase of 21,000% from 2020, according to data from Nonfungible.com.
Highlights of Jassy’s First Annual Shareholder Letter
Jassy wrote about the enormous growth experiences by Amazon during the coronavirus pandemic, particularly in its core retail business, as people cut their trips to the store and relied on the e-commerce giant for both essential and non-essential goods.
“We realized the equivalent of three years’ forecasted growth in about 15 months,” said Jassy, who took over the role of CEO from Bezos in July 2021. Bezos transitioned into the role of executive chairperson of Amazon’s board.
While Amazon achieved record profits during the pandemic, it has faced logistics and cost challenges when attempting to keep up with demand, the letter says. Amazon had to scale up its warehouse network in order to process more orders in a shorter timeframe.
In his view, Amazon was able to surpass critical challenges during the pandemic because “we weren’t starting from a standing start. We had been iterating on and remaking our fulfillment capabilities for nearly two decades. In every business we pursue, we are constantly experimenting and inventing. We are divinely discontented with customer experiences, whether they’re our own or not. We believe these customer experiences can always be better, and we strive to make customers’ lives better and easier every day.”
Andy Jassy’s Optimistic Take on NFTs
Specifically, regarding the sale of NFTs by Amazon, Jassy stated that, “it is possible later on the platform.” Last November, Cointelegraph reported that Amazon was hiring a financial services specialist who “understands the broader ecosystem of cryptocurrencies and digital assets,” with a background in Blockchain and distributed ledger technology.
However, Amazon posted another job advertisement two weeks ago, that also asks for candidates for the same role. Job responsibilities include being “able to define industry-specific messaging and collateral that effectively communicates the AWS [Amazon Web Service] value proposition for AWS digital asset solutions in financial services.” Curiously, the job advertisement does not indicate any degree requirement, but only work experience.
Despite the optimism, Jassy reiterated the company’s stance from last July that Amazon is “probably nowhere near adding crypto as a payment mechanism in our retail business.” Among major e-commerce technology companies, Shopify has been at the forefront of crypto adoption, with the company announcing earlier this month that it would accept Bitcoin (BTC) as payment on the platform through The Lightning Network and Strike. . However, the move has also drawn skepticism from users, with some pointing to the legal ramifications of funds not going through the Know Your Customer process.
By Audy Castaneda
