Amazon is hiring a Digital Currency and Blockchain Product Lead who will reside in the payments acceptance and experience team to “own the vision and strategy for Amazon’s Digital Currency and Blockchain strategy and product roadmap.” With 70 open positions, Amazon appears to be ramping up development of a blockchain or crypto solution.
Stablecoins, such as JPM Coin and Signature Banks Signet have demonstrated value in both intracompany and B2B payment models so perhaps Amazon will focus on its supply chain. However, the real opportunity is to utilize crypto to reduce C2B payments costs, but that might be accomplished at almost no cost if the US adopts a CBDC in the next few years:
“The company has posted a job listing for a Digital Currency and Blockchain Product Lead. The new hire will work in the payments acceptance and experience team to “own the vision and strategy for Amazon’s Digital Currency and Blockchain strategy and product roadmap.”
That could hint at a potential future integration of cryptocurrencies on the site. The opening also comes five months after whispers began to grow that Amazon was laying the groundwork for a new digital currency to use in its marketplaces and platforms.
In February, CoinDesk reported Amazon was preparing to launch a “digital currency” project in Mexico, noting a job posting that described a “new payment product” for the company.
Amazon presently has more than 70 openings for blockchain specialists, so the company could also be building out a blockchain supply business for customers of its Amazon Web Services.
Amazon, in a statement, said ‘ We’re inspired by the innovation happening in the cryptocurrency space and are exploring what this could look like on Amazon. We believe the future will be built on new technologies that enable modern, fast, and inexpensive payments, and hope to bring that future to Amazon customers as soon as possible.’ ”
Overview by Tim Sloane, VP, Payments Innovation at Mercator Advisory Group
