eBay Could be Looking at Accepting Cryptocurrency as Payment, Taking Apple Pay and Google Pay

Urian B., Tech Times 04 May 2021, 12:05 am

eBay is currently looking at cryptocurrency as a particular payment option for its whole 187 million buyers on the given platform. The company's CEO himself revealed that the e-commerce giant is now also exploring opportunities to venture into the non-fungible token or NFT business.

eBay Accepts Apple Pay and Google Pay: What About Bitcoin?

eBay CEO Jamie Iannone recently shared in a CNBC interview on Monday that the company is looking at accepting crypto as a legitimate form of payment, according to an article by Reuters. He was then asked about how eBay is reportedly responding to the strong rise in popularity and adoption of bitcoin along with the other cryptocurrencies.

The CEO simply replied that the company is now looking to expand the different types of payment that they take. The company is now taking on both Apple Pay and Google Pay and is reportedly looking for additional choices for buyers. He specifically noted that they are continuing to look at other options "like cryptocurrency," according to the Bitcoin News account on Twitter.

eBay CEO on NFTs

He also added that one of the great things about eBay is that whenever there is a new and rising trend, it just reportedly shows up on eBay. It was noted that that is what the company is now seeing in certain areas just like the NFTs or the non-fungible tokens, something that they are reportedly looking into for better exploration.

He also reportedly noted that eBay currently has 187 million buyers on the given platform, which was reported in the recent company's Q1 earnings release. There was also a specific question asked to Iannone asking if the statement means that they are getting into the whole NFT business.

PayPal Goes Crypto

The CEO gave a general answer saying that they are looking at the matter and are also exploring different opportunities on how they can possibly enable it on eBay in a much easier way. PayPal was previously eBay's subsidiary until 2015 when the company reportedly spun off the payments giant towards its shareholders.

According to the story by News.Bitcoin.com, PayPal has just recently launched its own crypto service just last year and has reportedly enabled crypto payments at millions of different stores in March. The recently enabled app called Venmo allows users to buy, sell, and even hold cryptocurrencies.

Companies Investing in Crypto

This 2021, a lot of new companies are venturing into the crypto space either accepting bitcoin as payments or even making investments in cryptocurrency themselves. While investing in cryptocurrency was previously taboo, the move is now being done by the likes of Tesla, NEXON, and a lot of other big companies.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been open about his fondness for cryptocurrency, specifically Dogecoin, and has finally gotten Tesla to invest in cryptocurrency. With eBay potentially accepting cryptocurrency payments, the bid to crypto as a means of purchase increases!

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Written by Urian B.