The CEO of eBay (Jamie Iannone), one of the world’s largest online marketplaces for used and new items is exploring Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and is considering the acceptance of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as payment methods. Considering that eBay is a platform on which individuals sell their personal items, their interest in NFTs is not unfounded.
NFTs have grown as a means for artists to monetize their work. Collectibles are currently a major part of eBay’s business, and NFTs are frequently used as collectibles too (they’re often called collectibles). Two well-known examples of NFT collectibles are the Ethereum-based CryptoKitties and Axies (from the Axie Infinity game).
The company does not have any immediate plans to accept cryptocurrencies as a payment method. However, if they did they would join Newegg and Shopify. Ebay is an international marketplace for items of all kinds, and if it started accepting cryptocurrency — that would be one of the most impactful cases of a store accepting it.
That would automatically enable people to buy almost anything they need with cryptocurrency, and it would likely increase eBay’s sales as a result. eBay would become a go-to store for cryptocurrency owners (at least, those who are willing to spend it). It’s also important because one’s ability to use cryptocurrency to buy everyday items:
- Makes it more attractive to accept salary payments in cryptocurrency — the need to sell one’s Bitcoin salary for dollars will be diminished somewhat, as they could just use Bitcoin to buy their items online.
- Further incentivizes people to keep their cryptocurrency instead of selling it for fiat currency to pay bills.
