Amazon Announces Spring NFT Initiative

Amazon makes its first move into the crypto industry.

And the e-commerce giant is targeting non-fungible tokens (NFTs), not cryptocurrency.

That’s according to a Blockworks report published on Thursday (January 26) that reveals the online retailer’s plans to launch an NFT initiative this spring.

The report from the crypto industry publication cites multiple sources familiar with Amazon’s plans, all of whom claim that Amazon has explored launching a digital asset business across its primary platform, and not via Amazon Web Services (AWS).

The world’s largest retailer, Amazon, has so far kept the crypto industry at arm’s length while investing – and finding success – in other next-generation digital commerce enablements, including direct sales.

Amazon’s entry into the Web3 landscape could provide an important boon to the credibility and vitality of an industry currently at an inflection point.

As PYMNTS has previously reported, the volume of “minted” NFTs has fallen by 60%, and the volume of active buyers and sellers is a third of the levels seen in early 2022.

Separately, sports retailer Fanatics has lost its taste for NFTs and is offloading its majority stake in Candy Digital at a perceived loss.

However, despite the headwinds of the NFT industry, Amazon is not the only traditional institutional player dipping its toes into the NFT marketplace ecosystem.

Fidelity Investments recently filed trademark applications for its own NFT marketplace.

Reached for comment by PYMNTS in an email, a Fidelity Investments spokesperson said that while it is premature to discuss the trademark applications that were just filed, they reinforce the company’s legacy of innovation.

Amazon’s Web3 ambitions reportedly include blockchain-based games and NFT collectibles. Although the effort is still in development, the sources reached by Blockworks have indicated that an April launch appears to have been “pencilled in.”

Whether Amazon plans to launch a marketplace remains unclear, though any move in that direction by the Seattle-based giant would send shock waves that shook industry players like OpenSea or Rarible given the size, scale and reach of the eCommerce titan.

Interestingly, Andy Jassy – the Amazon CEO who took over from founder Jeff Bezos – is no stranger to the collectibles industry. According to the technology manager’s biography, he worked for five years after graduating from Harvard University as a project manager for the collectibles company MBI.

Additional information about any potential hires Amazon has made to support the effort, or the creation of new internal teams to lead the NFT and blockchain gaming initiatives, has yet to be revealed.

The full scope of Amazon’s Web3 ambitions is similarly shrouded in mystery.

In a CNBC Squawkbox Interview last April, Jassy publicly stated that he saw NFTs in Amazon’s future.

“I expect NFTs to continue to grow very significantly. We’re probably not close to adding crypto as a payment mechanism to our retail, but I think over time you’ll see crypto get bigger and it’s possible… it is possible down the road,” he said at the time.

That time seems to be now – or at least this spring.