Bitcoin Forum

Day after day, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies grow in popularity as people flock from the current monetary system. Ever since the year started, a number of companies announced their decision to adopt Bitcoin at its fullest. Companies like Tesla and PayPal have joined the crypto/Blockchain craze, adding "fuel" to crypto assets' prices on the market. While this is certainly good news, there are still a wide number of companies that are quite behind others when it comes to adopting crypto/Blockchain tech for their own benefit. Major retailers like eBay and Amazon are yet to adopt Bitcoin as payment method. There's been some rumors that Amazon will adopt Bitcoin as payment method, but they haven't been confirmed yet. These rumors caused Bitcoin's price to jump back to $40k at a fast pace. If an official announcement comes from Amazon, prices could go to the roof.

What's holding back Amazon & eBay from adopting Bitcoin? Is it due to skepticism, volatility or lack or regulations? Do you think these companies will adopt Bitcoin soon? Or it'll never happen? Your input will be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much :)

Nothing I think is holding them from adopting Bitcoin but I think government will summon them for doing so. Nothing is more powerful than a governent that has authority to bring you and your business down. Facebook faced the authority when they tried Libra.

We see the Alibaba and DiDi Chinese company bow down to Xi Jinping's government. I see no different to US government.

It's highly like just because they simply don't see that much demand. If they accepted bitcoin, probably sub 1% of their userbase is going to use bitcoin. And volatility shouldn't even be a problem, because bitcoin payment processors that automatically converts the bitcoin to fiat at PoS already existed since forever.

There's also a chance that they're trying to dodge potential problems with the government, but it's highly likely to be the former.

Not soon but they will adopt Bitcoin.

I think they will adopt Bitcoin after they make investment in Bitcoin. Like Tesla and Elon Musk. They don't bring big news for the Bitcoin community and spend time to build up their platform just to adopt Bitcoin, if they won't earn anything from it.

First, they will try to earn from investment in Bitcoin.
Second, they will plan to earn from customer uses of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency on their platform.

the biggest reason is probably that they are still obeying the government...

there are several smaller online buying and selling sites from amazon and ebay that accept bitcoins and so far they haven't encountered any problems like newegg and shopify, but amazon and eBay seem to be very afraid of accepting payments with cryptocurrencies. one day for sure both will accept cryptocurrency as a payment option there.

They will definitely prepare for it, gradually we are already in the zone of large adoption of well-known platforms. It's just a matter of what steps are right for Amazon and eBay to start their first day.

For me, there are many things that we must take advantage of when everyone will adopt Bitcoin, we also certainly must not be complacent and miss how to deal with large adoption, while the dwindling supply will certainly make us more able to adapt to far more fantastic prices.

I think it's just a longer road than we tend to notice. Paypal CEO  (https://news.bitcoin.com/paypal-ceo-admits-he-owns-bitcoin-2/)admitted holding BTC in 2019, and Elon Musk (https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/23/elon-musk-just-revealed-how-much-bitcoin-he-owns.html) owned some BTC back in 2018. This shows some initial interest of decision-makers, which over a year or two can lead to a company adopting Bitcoin as well. But Bezos never showed any interest in Bitcoin, so there's no primary background to build adoption upon. As for Omidyar (the eBay founder), he opted for Libra (https://www.ebayinc.com/stories/news/exploring-the-opportunities-of-blockchain-and-cryptocurrency/) and also didn't express interest in BTC, so it's the same case as with Bezos. I think they're just not ready to adopt because their companies are already successful, and maybe they don't feel like it's worth it. After all, it's dealing with authorities, figuring out the regulations, taking the risks related to Bitcoin's volatility among other things. But they'll come around eventually, especially if the adoption trend continues.

I think their projected number of people is possibly the main reason why they don't want to adopt or integrate bitcoin into their system, they're probably predicting that not a lot of users are going to use that feature when it gets introduced plus there must be some cost that they want to avoid, that's probably why they don't want to adopt it.

The question is why such companies need to accept bitcoin? The reason Tesla does this is that they prefer it more than keeping the cash, but Amazon can get rid of the cash quickly and it doesn't need any more extra money.
Accepting Bitcoin will increase the headache if the user requests a refund as many users rely on Bitcoin as a store of value and therefore will not spend it.

Most probably it's because of the regulatory concerns that is holding them back in my perspective.
The transaction fees might be another reason but it's unlikely that these companies are not using crypto because of it's transaction charges.
If it were so they could use altcoins with low transaction charges and high speed such as Solana or other altcoins.
Demand is still low for cryptocurrencies to be accepted as payments and most people hold it only for trading and investments.
I think in the coming years as we see an increasing demand in cryptocurrencies, these companies might start using them as payment methods.

in fact they have adopted a quarter of their assets to buy bitcoins as a reserve asset to make a profit outside of the company they run. but why claim that they are not adopting bitcoin for now, maybe they should follow government regulations on prohibitions for using bitcoin as a medium of exchange for an item.

I have 2 theories out of which at least one I suspect Bezos is applying:

1. Bezos hates Bitcoin. He's a billionaire, he owns a corporation and he is actively working with other corporations, governments, authorities and so on. Hence, the idea of a currency they can't overtake or heavily profit from makes them pull back from helping it grow in any way. Look at Musk, what he's done is he's promoted DOGE to his own advantage. In the end, the poor got poorer, Musk got richer, the crypto scene has lost trust in front of potentially millions due to the pump and dump and so crypto had zero benefits from his crap.

2. Bitcoin is simply not popular enough for Amazon to do business with it. Bezos follows trends for sure, but he doesn't follow small ones. Bitcoin doesn't have that many users so his move to adopt Bitcoin on his platform would probably end up the same way Steam's did back in 2014 or so when they added BTC to the payment methods.

I had a 3rd theory I apparently forgot while writing this post, lol. These are the most likely scenarios imo.

Amazon have different countries that serves as their big consumers and some of them prohibits bitcoin. They just want to play safe and think of other factors not only bitcoin.

If they think that, that is good for them to just wait for more time and think other factors then that will help them to regulate bitcoin in their system.

There are things that we should not rush especially that we are thinking other constituent in cryptocurrency or bitcoin world.

I think what's holding them back is what is holding most companies back from currently accepting bitcoin as payment. Right now bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are simply too volatile , slow to transact and expensive.  I absolutely do believe if we solve these issues that that will change, but we may be a little ways off from that happening.  I do think that adding them to the payment platform could make sense being that there are some people whom would prefer to pay in bitcoin and therefore they would possibly get more business that way.

Most of it for me goes about regulations. There is a lot of profit that could be made out of bitcoin by whale investors should they choose to. That includes Amazon and eBay. They are a huge online based companies and adding bitcoin payment option to there menu would have been a very good thing.

I think this would be sorted out sooner than later should they be able to keep governed aside and look towards what good they could do for and bitcoin could do for them. Popularity is a no question for bitcoin else, the price could have been a lot down now, we all know the laws of demand and supply about this.

For Amazon, I think sooner or later, they would be looking towards incorporating bitcoin I there payment option. With the rumor being out, it there means, an evaluation would be on going. Perhaps, the system for its collection and accountability has not been properly put in place and as such, the rumors have to be denied for now. Just a thought!

Who knows what there reasons are, probably they are still observing the crypto situation before they venture into the market just like PayPal,  they must have realise what they are missing for not adopting btc, they both have huge customer base that will be willing to use btc whenever they decided to accept it in their platform, but I have the feeling they will soon jump into the moving train.

And Tesla immediately stopped accepting Bitcoin. And there hasn't actually been much companies adopting it as a payment method. And people absolutely don't "flock from current monetary system". Even almost all Bitcoin holders are still using fiat much more than they use Bitcoin for their payments.


You probably didn't hear the latest news, but Amazon actually debunked that they plan to accept Bitcoin. This whole thing seemed like a market manipulation.

Volatility is holding the general public back from using it, and if Amazon or Ebay were to implement it that would likely only increase the amount of volatility, and they would likely have a plethora of complaints about how last week this product was worth $10, and now its priced at $50. We already have those sort of complaints when they run deals on their platform, it would only be exaggerated if Bitcoin was implemented. There's also complexity to adding Bitcoin to the platforms especially to Ebay. Bidding for example, would have to be done separately for each item, so you either select a fiat or Bitcoin based auction, because otherwise due to the volatile nature of Bitcoin, you could really overspend based on the ending point of that auction or could underpay which could hurt the seller.

So, you would probably see the vast majority of users selling for fiat only, and then nothing really changes on their platform, except they put all that effort into implementing something that isn't going to be used by the majority of their users.

Yes my answer to the initial question


is "they dont need to" and they dont see Bitcoin as a threat or that they are losing
sales or revenue. They realise the vast majority of people have and are buying
Bitcoin to invest for the future and not to buy consumables with,
but they will make they move when they know its an opportune time.

I ask you the following question:

how many times have you heard things like:

1 - Don't sell your bitcoins, make hodl... hodl, hodl

2 - I'm holding my bitcoin until the price reaches $300,000

how many times have you heard this kind of stuff? I can answer you:

you must have heard this many times.

so how many people are interested in using bitcoin to buy stuff on Amazon and Ebay? I believe that the number of people is very small that it's not even worth ebay and amazon to accept bitcoin as a means of payment


one day they will accept, but for now in this crypto market people are interested in 3X profits and not using cryptocurrencies to make purchases

Adding a new payment method with little demand in the market means spending resources and time on something that wouldn't be beneficial for the company. Honestly there are only a few people still interested in using bitcoin as a payment method, due to the fact that the fees are not really economical for small purchases and the wait time is longer when compared to the payment methods that they are already accepting for their platforms. Regulation also adds to the hindrance, though I think with enough support and backing from the private sector, regulation would be quite easy to accomplish—with the right connections, of course.

Most countries are either in the process of regulation or have already achieved regulation. So, it would likely be taxed the same as other types of income for most countries. For example, capital gain tax, and income tax. Though, the fees are absolutely an issue for Bitcoin to be used as a every day currency, regardless of the platforms its implemented on.

I would think that Amazon with it's big data know stuff.
Stuff like how many gift cards are sold through Bitrefill / BitPay / Coingate / Bidali and can figure out if it's worth it for them to accept BTC and other cryptos as payment.
They would also know stuff like how long between when the card is bought and entered into their system and spent.
And all the other important information about that like cost of BTC / crypto at time of card purchase vs time spent. etc....

-Dave

They probably don't know an exact amount, but could definitely do some calculated estimations due to the traffic that they get for searches etc. However, I would expect if not Amazon, but the people behind it are already invested in Bitcoin as a sort of reserve, rather than a currency they use on a daily basis. It would just make sense for most big companies to be invested in it one way or another.

I think it will happen soon. Amazon, Ebay and most of the ecommerce companies need to adapt to the new times. When I visit these sites I can realize that even the design of their pages need a touch-up, it shows that the years have passed.
Amazon's job position exists and is a latent need for the company.
Amazon is a giant that innovated in its time, now it is in its best moment to give way to bitcoin and cryptocurrencies and we are still not talking about the NFT and Play to Earn market that are dazzling many.

Just recently Amazon denied (https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/amazon-denies-report-accepting-bitcoin-payment-2021-07-26/) the widespread assumption that they will accept Bitcoin as a payment method. However, it looks like they’re thinking of it as a possibility. I wouldn’t rely on anything Tesla has to say, because during the past half a year they’ve changed their mind too many times :D

Amazon, on the other hand, may be taking their time to make a decision and evaluate all the risks. But once they do, I’m certain it will be final and we won’t see them running between sides, because they value their reputation.

I strongly believe that it is only matter of time before they announce about crypto acceptance in their payment system, Amazon in particular. Maybe even before the year ends there might be some kind of development here even if they denied it for the moment. If they see other merchants accepting crypto, they may consider it soon.

Highly unlikely. Let's not forget that whatever these people feel about bitcoin or literally anything, if it can help boost their business, they would accept it. Same reason why Jamie Dimon seems to dislike bitcoin with passion, but yet JP Morgan already has a bitcoin fund. Why? Because it's going to make them money.

There are several reasons why large companies do not use Bitcoin as a medium of exchange. The main reason they do not accept Bitcoin is because of the government's ban on Bitcoin and the fact that it is considered illegal in almost every country. Moreover, due to the volatile price of bitcoin, the government, as well as well-known companies, are reluctant to transact through it. Tesla and some other companies decided to accept Bitcoin but later canceled it for various reasons, which made other medium and small companies fearful of making a decision. The big companies in different countries are not able to accept Bitcoin even if they want to in order to show their commitment to the government of the country.

Big corporations and their CEOs or founders would invest in Bitcoin and crypto long time before the day they announce adoption from their corporations.

They are human and they will not announce big adoption just to bring chances to others whilst they don't get anything from their preparations for such adoption.

Started with small groups, limited early Bitcoin adopters, then to small companies, institutions and big Techs. Soon we will see more big corporations, more billionaires invest in Bitcoin and crypto.

More time passes, more younger billionaires appear and they are more adaptive to modern trends with crypto market is one such trends. Because they are young, they will be more open-minded and eagerly to make changes in their corporations.

Also makes you wonder if the fact that there are all these places to get gift cards with BTC is part of the reason they are slow to adopt it.
When bitrefill buys a gift card from Amazon they pay X for it and Amazon then has the local fiat and you have a gift card that can sit there for a while till you spend it. But Amazon has the money.

2 points:
#1: Now if they take BTC they don't get $95 up front for a $100 gift card that can sit there unused for months.
If they DO take BTC they get $40 for the $40 drive I just bought today and not one cent more, till I spend more.

#2: People with gift cards DO tend to spend more because it is "just sitting there" so instead of just getting the $40 drive I get the $6 cable "just in case" and the $8 pack of socks since I'm on their site anyway.

So for them, at least in the short term, is it better to let bitrefill and the others do the work of taking crypto for them?

Just a breakfast thought.

-Dave

I don’t understand why people think Amazon or eBay would benefit from introducing Bitcoin as a payment option? It's no secret that very few people use BTC as a currency, and that people generally know very little about how to make a transaction correctly - first of all, I mean the fee which if set incorrectly can mean that the transaction will be stuck for hours or days. Customer services would certainly have their hands full, and customers would certainly be quite dissatisfied.

Every company is looking for a profit, and I honestly think that such large companies would have more problems than benefits from BTC at the moment - and it is better to postpone such a decision than to have a situation where something is first accepted and then repealed.

- As for our selves, crypto users can be rampant everywhere when this is the world we see all the time but Amazon has a different basis for defining things, that means they have employees who survey users' need to pay in crypto and survey numbers are rarely made public but in my opinion, not too many comments or requests for support, such results allow Amazon to stop human resources for this issue. Adding payments with crypto is a problem that requires Amazon to account for a lot of costs, not available to all users, many other strategies worth considering than crypto

I agree from your point of view, that Amazon hasn't announced the acceptance of crypto in their payment system yet. but to receive bitcoin in their system, it took me a long time especially the payment mechanism and the availability of bitcon in their wallet which is sufficient for the transaction process.

I don't think that there is something that is holding them back from adopting Bitcoin. They just seem indecisive about what to do. Not all of the companies trust Bitcoin and believe in it in the end. But I've heard some rumours about Amazon's getting ready to make a statement that they would start accepting Bitcoin soon.

Probably the number of people that are going to use the feature when it's finally added is probably really low and more people will still use fiat because even if they have the payment system, it's not like everyone will be able to use bitcoin so they can use it for payment, plus the company's ego is too big to use a third party that they have no power over.

Bitcoin usage is slowly increasing with time. Maybe both Amazon and eBay are waiting for the right time to get into the acceptance of bitcoin into their business. Volatility will be considered only if they are into holding of bitcoin. As of now Bitcoin is into the early days of mainstream adoption. Even if Amazon and eBay starts accepting bitcoin, maybe a small number of users will start using it for their needs.

the real reason may be that there is still a ban from the government that makes them undo their intention to adopt bitcoin as it is today, for example the ban is no longer happening in some countries I'm sure the 2 companies will adopt bitcoin on a large scale the same thing with what what is happening at this time, maybe we can understand why they still don't dare to adopt it

Those are big companies that are popular worldwide. and very successful and very often used. It seems that the reason you said is true because, volatility or lack or regulations because they are big company and must be regulated under government regulations. and do not know whether they want to risk their assets or not . but I believe there comes a time when it happens.

I can see few reasons why they are still holding back. I mean not yet fully confirmed bitcoin and crypto payments. As many customers are in different countries and they are considering bitcoin regulations in a certain consumer's location.

Aside from that the volatility of bitcoin can also be one of the reasons. Well, there's still a solution because they can always pair it up with USDT but those companies are still have long way to plan it well.

I think it is more inclined to government regulations that still prohibit the crypto world, maybe if it no longer applies to the prohibition regulations and I am very sure they will be happy to adopt it, this will only be a matter of time for the company it's in taking steps to adopt bitcoin. this is very good for the development of bitcoin in the future

It is possible that many countries are banning bitcoins, but there are also a fair number of countries that do not have bans on bitcoin payments and can accept bitcoin, Amazon and Ebay are huge commercial organizations and across the continent, they can't say they don't know these things but until now, even the slightest intention to apply does not exist. So I'm not inclined to government regulation that can prevent any decision from Amazon and Ebay, they obviously don't really trust and don't have the necessary recommendations on bitcoin.

They have to cater to whole global payments pattern and some users use it and some still order and pay with traditional methods of COD and card payments because still less percentage of people use bitcoin at this time.But the main concern is they will soon accept this mode of payment also and will show them under AUM in balance sheet soon even though they have denied rumors of accepting btc at this time.Amazon is the biggest e-commerce site and Jeff bezos richest person on planet and they have to cater with global customer needs and met with regulationary measures of each country but we can soon see it on the list.

That's certainly true, mate. Fiat still has a lot of users, compared to Bitcoin. Amazon's user base consists mostly of customers who pay in credit/debit cards. Despite Bitcoin's popularity, the cryptocurrency is still lacking mainstream adoption. Not only that, but the slow transaction confirmation times and high fees makes Bitcoin a terrible currency for daily payments.

Retailers like eBay and Amazon want something that's fast, cheap, and easy to use. So far, Fiat (either through debit/credit cards) is "King" when it comes to making transactions instantly at a fraction of the cost. The Lightning Network aims to solve most of Bitcoin's problems, but it's quite difficult for the average person to understand. It's unlikely online retailers will adopt Bitcoin anytime soon. Just my thoughts ;D

If there is no law regarding cryptocurrency, which mean there is no restrictions about it unless the government comes out and bans them altogether, Amazon is functioning in multiple countries and they could have easily accepted Bitcoin and if they wanted to KYC you customer for using Bitcoin they could have done that as well. So it is not even an excuse for not accepting.

If volatility is the reason they are going to claim, they can use many payment gateways that would instantly convert the Bitcoin to any currency of their choice and it is not another excuse to not accepting Bitcoin payments.

Although Amazon has not announced the permission to pay with Bitcoin for the time being, I think for the time being that they will adopt Bitcoin with a high probability next year, or develop their own currency. If obstructed, it is mostly the government's factor. For example, when the Chinese government issues a ban, many news about encryption are no longer allowed to be published on the website, and Chinese companies will not oppose the government. Another part of the reason I think is that Amazon's user demand is not great. I think even if Bitcoin payment is enabled, there will not be too many users using Bitcoin to pay.

I don't think they need to accept Bitcoin payments. I see that I don't know much about whether they are willing to pay with Bitcoin. Most people are unwilling to pay with Bitcoin, and most of them use Amazon for small purchases. I think it does not apply. If Amazon sellers do not enter the cryptocurrency space, how can they make a profit and start paying in Bitcoin? Whether it is a buyer or a seller, I personally would not choose to pay with Bitcoin.

Agree with you. Although I don't know how Amazon and eBay work, solving the instability caused by liquidity should be their biggest obstacle to adopting Bitcoin.

If Amazon chooses to use cryptocurrency, there are many more issues he has to consider. The first is whether the product is priced in US dollars or Bitcoin. Indeed, Bitcoin fluctuates. People may not agree to use Bitcoin for pricing. Of course It can also be a discount with bitcoin payments (now Amazon has gift cards).
And it also depends on whether the government does not allow the use of Bitcoin, they are still regulated by law.

They can also use stablecoins without the need to "cash out" Bitcoin into Fiat. This saves time and money, than either accepting Bitcoin directly or converting it to Fiat through a payment gateway. I think the main reason why online retailers are avoiding Bitcoin is because of the KYC/AML regulations from mainstream governments. After all, crypto payments don't require ID verification whatsoever. Paying with crypto is like paying with cold, hard cash. Imagine criminals buying stuff on Amazon and eBay using crypto without leaving any trace (sort of). It would force these retailers to close their business for good (due to government pressure)! Unless crypto/Blockchain tech becomes more regulated, I don't think online retailers will adopt Bitcoin anytime soon. Just my opinion :)

These giants are about knowing their clients, even if the client does not want it, and about getting more control and more power over the market. If you think of it, Amazon does not even accept PayPal. Bitcoin is for its own nature, difficult to control or perhaps impossible and is not particularly good for keeping track of personalised customer data. Henceforth, these companies are unlikely to have a near term strategy and in the future my take is that they will be, at most, late adopters, when mainstream is already there.