E-commerce giant eBay is now looking into the possibility of accepting cryptocurrency payments from the millions of its buyers on its platform.
In a CNBC interview, eBay Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jamie Iannone was asked about their response to the rise in popularity and adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies.
He said they are expanding the types of payments that they take as eBay is now accepting Apple Pay and Google Pay and they “will continue to look at other options, like cryptocurrency.”
As of this time, there are 187 million buyers on eBay that might benefit from the acceptance of digital currencies as payments.
eBay also exploring the NFT market
In the same interview, Iannone was also asked if they are getting into the non-fungible token (NFT) business. He responded by saying they are looking at it and exploring opportunities on how they can enable it on eBay in an easy way.
He further explained that one of the great things about their selling platform is that when there is something new, it just shows up there and that’s what they are seeing in areas such as NFTs.
Joining the crypto mainstream adoption
Until 2015, digital payments giant PayPal has been the subsidiary of eBay. Last year, the former launched its crypto service and allowed the use of digital currencies as payments at millions of stores last March.
It has also enabled the users of its Venmo app to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies in what is being considered as another big win for those pushing the mainstream adoption of virtual currencies.
If the plans of eBay materialize, it will once again prove that the crypto market is now being recognized even by established mainstream institutions.
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