Could Ebay be Considering Crypto?

Ebay is the biggest online auction place in the world. They have reach in numerous different markets and are usually one of the companies that are most interested in new technology.

It was for this reason that the online giant purchased PayPal a number of years ago. Therefore, as the owner of one of the largest payment processors, is it true that Ebay is considering cryptocurrency payments?

This may be the case according to senior vice president, Scott Cutler.

"Considering" it

Cutler had the interview with Yahoo finance by stating that Ebay is

seriously considering it as these cryptocurrencies become more of a mainstream payment instrument, but we’re not quite there yet

He also mentioned that he is aware of the amount of cryptocurrency mining hardware that makes the round on the auction site. What this shows is that the auction site would already have a great deal of interest in cryptocurrency payments.

Benefits of Crypto Payments

There are currently not that many online retailers that accept cryptocurrency payments. This is probably as a result of certain stigmas that are invariably attached to Bitcoin.

However, for those that have accepted the coin, business has been quite strong. For example, overstock which is a large internet retailer has had a massive rally in its share price on the back of its acceptance of cryptocurrencies.

Although there is nothing official from Ebay on the possible acceptance of cryptocurrencies, the mere fact that someone senior in Ebay has shown an interest to the introduction is positive.

As online retail is a hyper competitive space, there is no wonder that a number of these companies are actively considering the integration of cryptocurrency payments. For example, companies such as Amazon have even registered cryptocurrency related domain names.

Still a Way to Go

Although demand for cryptocurrency as an investment is soaring, there is still much more growth for the crypto payments online. Part of this is also down to the increasing fees and slow transaction times on the main cryptocurrency, Bitcoin.

This has not stopped some companies from testing cryptocurrency payments. For example, last week the mobile payments solution, Square, gave its users the ability to buy and hold cryptocurrencies. This was released with not much fanfare to only a limited number of users though.

The hope is that in the New Year as the Bitcoin scaling solutions play out and more users start investing in cryptocurrencies, large online retailers may follow and jump all in.