The question of whether or not Amazon will start accepting cryptocurrencies has been a hot topic for a while. It’s become a running joke that the answer is always “no,” even though there’s been no official word from the company on their stance. But new developments suggest that they might soon make the leap.

The rumor mill started spinning once again this week when news broke that Amazon had registered three cryptocurrency related domain names. Namely, amazonethereum.com, amazoncryptocurrency.com and amazoncryptocurrencies.com.

This isn’t just idle speculation, either: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has also published an application by Amazon to patent a “streaming data marketplace” where users can put data up for sale in real time using blockchain technology-a decentralized digital ledger of transactions maintained by nodes running software around the world-that can be used to both encrypt and track information. We’ll see how.

The Ripple Effect

of Amazon Accepting Bitcoin

Amazon has been in the news lately for their potential move to accept cryptocurrencies on their site. If they do, it will likely create a ripple effect of merchants and other providers accepting cryptocurrencies. From there, we may see an increase of people investing in cryptocurrencies and trading them more on exchanges and via peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions; as well as an increase in demand for cryptocurrency related products like hardware wallets, paper wallets, and crypto debit cards.

The Cloud is Rising

There have been a lot of implications for the use of cryptocurrencies in the last few months. In April, JP Morgan Chase announced they will be launching a cryptocurrency, JPM Coin, to facilitate transactions on its blockchain platform Quorum. The potential for this technology is massive and has been gaining traction with companies who are exploring different ways to adopt cryptocurrencies into their business models.

In April, the Ethereum blockchain network processed over 800 thousand transactions per day which accounted for a total value of nearly US$1 billion. But even with all this activity going on, it took up only about 3% of the total capacity available. This means that there is still 94% left for more transactions at a lower cost!

These new developments show that Amazon is exploring digital currencies and how they can integrate them into their ecosystem. If Amazon were to start accepting cryptocurrencies in some fashion, it would likely lead other retailers to do so as well. We’re watching closely to see what happens with these domains and patent applications!

New Crypto Domain Names

Amazon has registered three new domain names related to cryptocurrencies. If you visit the individual websites, all you’ll see is a placeholder image and contact information for Amazon Web Services. It’s possible that these domains were registered to keep others from taking them or in case the company wants to do something with them in the future.

It’s not clear what Amazon intends to do with their newly acquired domains. But it does seem like they’re starting to consider cryptocurrency as a potential payment method for their services, especially when you consider that they applied for a patent that would allow them to start accepting cryptocurrencies in exchange for data. For now, it looks like we’ll just have to wait and see what Amazon ultimately decides.

Patent for Streaming Data Marketplace

If Amazon is serious about blockchain and cryptocurrency, this would be a logical next step. The streaming data market place patent could serve as an unofficial introduction for the company into the world of cryptocurrencies.

The patent’s description notes that “streaming data marketplace (SDA) may provide a platform to allow any number of entities to submit and update bids in response to queries on streaming data.” Basically, it’s a place where people can post bids for information and other people can pay for it through anonymous transactions using cryptocurrency.

It’s not clear what sort of information would be available in such a market, but it does hint at one potential way that Amazon might monetize their AWS cloud services-by selling access to its vast troves of unstructured streaming data. It also offers some interesting possibilities for how users might interact with the company’s databases. The patent seems like an intriguing-if not necessarily lucrative-idea.

Conclusion

Amazon has been on the sidelines of cryptocurrency mania for a while. But if they’re eyeing the trends and looking for a new revenue stream, cryptocurrency could be the answer.

Amazon has been on the sidelines of cryptocurrency mania for a while. But if they’re eyeing the trends and looking for a new revenue stream, cryptocurrency could be the answer.

The company has been experimenting with blockchain technology and has registered a number of crypto-related domain names.

Recent reports also show that Amazon is patenting a new way to sell streaming data and this could be one way they look to monetize it.

Stay tuned to see what Amazon does next!