Andy Jassy, Chief Executive Officer of Amazon.com Inc, said in an interview with CNBC on Thursday that the e-commerce giant is not close to adding cryptocurrency as a payment option to its retail business.
But he also said it could be possible to sell non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on his ecommerce platform and expects NFTs to continue to grow “significantly”.
NFTs, a type of digital asset that exist on a blockchain, have become extremely popular in 2021, with NFT artworks selling for millions of dollars.
Jassy said cryptocurrencies will grow in the longer term, but added that he does not own bitcoin himself.
A growing number of companies have started accepting virtual currencies for payment, bringing an asset class shunned by major financial institutions until a few years ago closer to the mainstream.
Last year, eBay Inc allowed the sale of NFTs for digital collectibles such as trading cards, images or video clips on its platform, the first e-commerce company to take advantage of the frenzy surrounding NFTs.
eBay had also said it was open to the possibility of accepting cryptocurrency as a means of payment in the future.