Amazon announced blockbuster first-quarter earnings.
The e-commerce giant reported earnings that topped $1.6B, far exceeding analyst estimates of $600 million.
Following the news, Amazon stock rocketed over 7% after hours.
While the company did not specifically mention cryptocurrency on its earnings call, they announced it would be introducing a series of tools that allow users to create, deploy, and manage blockchain networks on Amazon Web Services.
The tools, called blockchain templates, allow customers of Amazon’s cloud services to more easily create projects based on blockchain technology.
We all want Amazon to announce that it will begin accepting cryptocurrency. That would be a game changer.
Recent news from Amazon represent a giant leap towards crypto integration.
In fact, Amazon may even be using the new services to experiment with blockchain as it prepares to accept payment in cryptocurrencies, since blockchain technology is notoriously complex and requires months of research and development to properly implement.
Amazon was responsible for nearly 44% of all e-commerce sales in the U.S. in 2017. According to some reports, the company could account for as much as 2% to 3% of all global card payments. However, these payments don’t come cheap. Amazon pays fees to credit card companies and banks for every single transaction. These fees likely amount to hundreds of millions (if not billions) of dollars a year. For Amazon, the opportunity to disrupt existing payment providers isn’t just obvious - it’s critical.
Payment technology represents an opportunity that is way too big for Amazon to ignore.
With cryptocurrencies becoming a more critical part of the global financial system, Amazon could ultimately integrate cryptocurrencies as part of its payment technology.