Amazon’s major crypto move sees Bitcoin bounce to over $50,000
The price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies surged overnight after e-commerce giant Amazon posted a new job opening.
The company is searching for a Digital Currency and Blockchain Product Lead which sparked a swell of enthusiasm from crypto investors.
It is thought Amazon is looking to start accepting digital currencies as a legitimate form of payment, something that has been done by the likes of Tesla in the past.
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The job is based in Seattle and would be based within Amazon's Payment Acceptance & Experience Team, suggesting the company could be looking to accept cryptocurrencies in the near future.
A spokesperson for Amazon told Yahoo Finance UK that the company is excited by the future of cryptocurrency and how it can be used.
"We’re inspired by the innovation happening in the cryptocurrency space and are exploring what this could look like on Amazon,” the spokesperson said.
"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."
Bitcoin was up 12 per cent overnight to just over $50,000 marking the cryptocurrency's highest price in over a month.
Amazon follows in Tesla’s footsteps
The news comes after electric car maker Tesla said it would accept Bitcoin as payment earlier this year but then CEO Elon Musk seemingly backtracked citing environmental concerns.
Tesla purchased around US$1.5 billion (AU$2 billion) in Bitcoin in February, with the company telling the SEC the purchase was made for “more flexibility to further diversify and maximise returns on our cash”.
Recently Musk caused another stir in the crypto market when speaking at “The B Word” Conference hosted by the Crypto Council for Innovation.
Musk revealed he personally owns Bitcoin, Dogecoin and Ethereum while his companies Tesla and SpaceX also own Bitcoin.
“I would like to see Bitcoin succeed,” Musk said. “If the price of Bitcoin goes down, I lose money. I might pump but don’t dump.”
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