Speculation Abounds over Amazon Entry to Crypto as Bitcoin Reclaims $40,000

Cryptocurrency markets were bolstered last week as an Amazon insider revealed potential cryptocurrency plans. Tesla’s Q2 earnings report reveals Bitcoin holdings and XRP soars as Ripple secures its first On-Demand Liquidity service in Japan. 

• Insider claims Amazon will begin accepting Bitcoin
• Amazon official denies claims day later
• Tesla sold no BTC in the second quarter of 2021
• Ripple to launch RippleNet On-Demand Liquidity between Japan and the Philippines
• US Federal Reserve keeping interest rates near zero
• Big-ticket reports to watch out for this week

Amazon insider claims company will start accepting Bitcoin by ‘end of this year’

A report released last week by the London-based City A.M shook the cryptocurrency markets. The report claimed that Amazon, the global e-commerce and services provider, is planning to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment. 

Speculation and excitement began the week prior as a digital currency and blockchain product lead job was posted by the organization. While the job description stated that the company was looking for someone to “develop the case for the [crypto] capabilities”, the subsequent report highlighted that the company is far beyond simply looking at possibilities for cryptocurrencies.    

After speaking with an ‘insider’ at the company, the City A.M. article claimed that Amazon is looking to start accepting Bitcoin payments by the end of this year. She told the reporter “This isn’t just going through the motions to set up cryptocurrency payment solutions at some point in the future – this is a full-on, well-discussed, integral part of the future mechanism of how Amazon will work”

Additionally, she added “It begins with Bitcoin – this is the key first stage of this crypto project, and the directive came from the very top…Jeff Bezos himself.” 

Bitcoin would be the first cryptocurrency incorporated, and if successful, the company plans to integrate other large market cap cryptocurrencies too. Ethereum, Cardano, and Bitcoin Cash were all mentioned during the interview. 

Before finishing the interview the insider explained, “when all these crypto ducks are lined up, there’s another twist to push things even further into Amazon’s favor – a native token. After a year of experiencing cryptocurrency as a way of making payments for goods, it is looking increasingly possible that we’re heading towards tokenization.”

While remaining relatively quiet on the topic of cryptocurrencies, this is the first hint that the e-commerce behemoth is considering crypto adoption. Amazon is now the fourth largest organization in the world. If Amazon begins implementing cryptocurrency payments, it may vigorously drive mainstream adoption. 

Cryptocurrency markets soared higher on the back of the news and continued climbing for the majority of the week. After starting the week positively Bitcoin climbed a further $9,000 and reclaimed the psychological $40,000 mark. 

Amazon official responds to crypto claims

A day after the Amazon report was released by City A.M., an official Amazon spokesperson discussed the topic with Reuters and denied the claims. 

“Notwithstanding our interest in the space, the speculation that has ensued around our specific plans for cryptocurrencies is not true. We remain focused on exploring what this could look like for customers shopping on Amazon.”

Although denying the claims, the comments from the Amazon representative did little to quell the cryptocurrency markets that continued to climb to a weekly high of $42,000. Heights that have not been seen since May.

Although the plans for cryptocurrency payments may be inaccurate, the release of cryptocurrency-related job advertisements is undeniably a step from the e-commerce giant towards the crypto sector.

Tesla reveals Bitcoin holdings

Tesla released its second-quarter earnings last week, which included the company’s Bitcoin holdings. The unaudited balance sheet highlights a $1.3 billion net digital asset value. 

The company purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin during Q1 2021 and also began accepting BTC as a form of payment. However, during Q2 the company’s CEO, Elon Musk, decided to remove BTC as a payment method citing environmental concerns. The company then also sold 10% of its digital asset holdings. 

At the time Musk explained that this was to test liquidity in the market. Although stating that he and the company had diamond hands for holding Bitcoin, there has been severe speculation that the company had sold the entirety of its digital asset holdings.

In a positive twist, this speculation was proven inaccurate. The Q2 balance sheet showed that no digital assets were either sold or purchased during the second quarter. The assets held a value of $1.311 billion as of 30th Jun 2021. After announcing his own personal cryptocurrency holdings during the previous week, Musk has shown again that he still believes in the potential of this industry.

Later in the week, after the release of the Q2 report, Musk engaged in a Twitter discussion with a Tesla shareholder in which he had calculated that Tesla must hold 42,069 BTC. In response to the tweet, Musk wrote “we don’t have that many bitcoin, but it’s close.” 

XRP moves higher as Ripple secures on-demand liquidity service 

Ripple, the blockchain and cryptocurrency global payment solution provider, last Wednesday outlined that the company would be launching its first RippleNet On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service in Japan. The service will provide affordable cross-border payments between Japan and the Philippines, which currently total approximately $1.8 billion. 

Ripple will be partnering with Japan’s largest money transfer provider, SBI Remit, and one of the leading mobile wallet service providers in the Philippines, Coins.ph to implement the service. By utilizing the native cryptocurrency XRP, users will be able to avoid the costly Japanese cross-border payments. While high cross-border costs are more acceptable for large payments, many Filipino workers make low-value high-frequency remittances. Avoiding the costs will mean much more money reaches intended recipients. 

While initially implementing the on-demand liquidity between Japan and the Philippines, Ripple hopes to expand into other markets within the Asia-Pacific region. XRP rose 10% on the back of the news.  

US interest rates remain near zero

On Wednesday last week, The US Federal Reserve announced that it would be keeping interest rates between 0% and 0.25%. Although there has been clear growth in the economy the Fed continues to wait before implementing an increase.

The Fed Chair, Jerome Powell, spoke on Wednesday. “Our approach here has been to be as transparent as we can. We have not reached substantial further progress yet. We see ourselves having some ground to cover to get there.”

The Fed still needs to see “further progress” on inflation and employment levels before tightening policy. A tightening policy will result in a reduction of monthly bond purchases and raising interest rates. They also remain unconcerned by future waves of the COVID-19 virus, stating that each new wave has been less detrimental to the economy.  

Big-ticket reports to watch out for this week:

Monday – China Caixin Manufacturing PMI, Euro Markit Manufacturing PMI, US Manufacturing PMI

Tuesday – Australia Interest Rate Decision, New Zealand Unemployment Change

Wednesday – Australia Retail Sales (MoM), European Retail Sales (MoM & YoY), US ADP Employment Change, Canada Building Permits (MoM), US ISM Services PMI  

Thursday –  Australia Trade Balance (MoM), UK Interest Rate Decision, US Initial Jobless Claims, US Goods and Services Trade Balance

Friday – Australia Monetary Policy Statement, Canada Unemployment Rate, Canada Ivey Purchasing Managers Index s.a., US Nonfarm Payrolls 

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