eBay Contemplates Adding Crypto Payment Option on its Platform
Major online marketing platform eBay has revealed that it is considering accepting cryptocurrency as a payment method while also exploring the non-fungible tokens (NFT) industry.
eBay Mulling Adding Crypto Payment Option
Speaking in a CNBC interview on Monday (May 3, 2021), eBay CEO Jamie Iannone stated that the e-commerce giant is looking at adding other payment options such as cryptocurrency. While Iannone does not say when the company would start accepting crypto payment on its platform, nor does he mention the exact cryptocurrency asset it would accept, a statement from eBay indicates that it was in no hurry to enable the crypto payment option.
“We are always looking at the most relevant forms of payment and will continue to assess that going forward. We have no immediate plans, but it (cryptocurrency) is something we are keeping an eye on.”
Indeed, the crypto industry has seen an increased level of mainstream adoption from major companies. In recent times, a number of major firms have started accepting bitcoin and other digital assets as a payment method.
As previously reported by CryptoPotato back in March, electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla announced that customers could pay for its products with bitcoin. Major wine seller Acker announced in April that it was adding bitcoin, ether, bitcoin cash, and dogecoin as payment options.
WeWork, a major flexible workspace provider, also joined the list of companies to enable crypto payment on its platform. At the beginning of May, the U.S. food chain giant Landry’s revealed that it would soon start to accept BTC payment.
Even PayPal, eBay’s former subsidiary, announced it would soon launch a crypto checkout service. The new service would allow customers to use cryptocurrencies such as BTC, ETH, BCH, and LTC to make purchases across millions of merchants supported by the payment processor giant.
NFT on eBay, Perhaps?
The eBay CEO also said that the company was exploring the NFT sector. According to Iannone:
“One of the great things about eBay is that when there is a new trend it just shows up on eBay. That’s what we are seeing in areas like NFT, which we are looking at how can we explore that better, because eBay is really known as the place to transact goods.”
He further commented on the company’s plans regarding the NFT space, stating:
“We are looking at it and exploring opportunities for how we can enable it on eBay in an easy way. When you think about collectibles, everything that is really collectible has been known eBay for decades and will continue to be for the next few decades.”
NFTs gained massive popularity in 2021, with various celebrities and even the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) hopping on the NFT bandwagon. However, the NFT mania seems to be dwindling, with Google searches dropping, as reported by CryptoPotato back in April.
