Home

NFT

Tag: Amazon

Amazon NFTs: How Will It Impact the marketplace? 

Posted on by Subh Rath

Amazon is allegedly launching an NFT marketplace next month, largely applauded in the industry as it cements the growing acceptance of digital assets. The initiative resembles other prominent corporations dabbling in the industry, such as GameStop and Reddit.

Whereas Amazon is acknowledged for following in the footsteps of other prominent platforms, Meta, formerly Facebook, is taking a step back less than a year after pushing to accept digital collectibles on its platforms. According to an announcement on March 14, 2023, Meta intends to phase off NFT support on its platforms, Instagram and Facebook.

So while Meta opts out of NFTs, will Amazon’s plan to dive in impact the marketplace? Or will it be another platform that dipped its feet in the NFT world and went back? 

What Do Experts Say? 

According to Christopher Alexander, Liberty Blockchain’s chief communications officer, Amazon’s involvement in NFTs is noteworthy for two reasons.

“The first is tied to the brand,” he explained. “Amazon is well-known and trusted by more than 200 million Prime Members. Amazon can act as a trustworthy gateway for first-time Web3 users. Second, Amazon provides enormous lobbying clout to a crypto business waging many battles on Capitol Hill.”

GameStop and Reddit are two other companies that have entered the market. In October 2022, GameStop and ImmutableX Pty Limited created an NFT marketplace. According to a Hype Partners tweet, Reddit began collecting in July of last year and has already onboarded approximately 6.9 million visitors to Web3.

Furthermore, CJ Reim, a contributor at Core DAO, also stated that Amazon’s announcement shows how there is still momentum for other non-crypto technology corporations to experiment with NFTs and crypto in general.

Today, if you look at the NFT world, the NFT space has taken a beating — just like the crypto market in general — since the May 2022 collapse of TerraUSD/Luna, the accompanying platform collapses, and the famed FTX incident.

Yet, it appears to be on the mend. Therefore, it remains to be seen whether Amazon will compete with “pure” NFT marketplaces like OpenSea, although analysts think there is an opportunity for competition in a relatively new industry.

More About Amazon’s Marketplace: 

Amazon consumers can purchase NFTs linked to real-world assets, according to Blockworks. The business will notify US Amazon Prime users when the digital collectibles strategy goes live.

The marketplace, expected to launch on April 24, will initially offer 15 NFT collections, available on Amazon’s website and can be viewed by clicking the “Amazon Digital Marketplace” option, according to Coingape. Consumers will not require crypto wallets to purchase NFTs from Amazon.

Brave users can now Access Exciting Brands with their rewards

Posted on by Bob Coiney

Brave Software is credited with constructing the Brave browser which is a confluence of privacy with Blockchain-powered digital advertising platform. The TAP network which is the Rewards-as-a-service technology company announced that Brave desktop users will now be able to redeem Basic Attention Tokens (BAT) for real-time rewards provided by more than 250,000 top brands and merchants who have tied up with TAP network. The collaboration has made it a reality for all Brave users to redeem tokens and also connect with different brands. 

Brave had spearheaded the concept of a blockchain-based advertising format which endows 70% of revenue share with the users in the form of BAT. It has 12 million active users month on month and users surely have the convenience to take up this rewards program. With the association with TAP, Brave users, especially in the US, will be able to redeem the earned tokens for gift cards from top brands and travel partners like Delta, American Airlines and many more. 

On March 10th, this partnership with the TAP network was announced and clarifications were sought whether only the US users will be benefitted. As of now, the company spokesperson has clarified that there is essentially no legal restriction but a user outside the US will not be able to enjoy as many rights as a US citizen will. 

Brave is a much-admired concept. On March 5th Brave also launched protection from fingerprinting implying how advertisers smartly track various users by working on creating a large collection of unique things. Any user will now be able to win BAT rewards by applying a privacy-protecting Brave Browser and redeem it later for a gamut of options available. 

The exclusive scheme for users in the United States will endow them with rewards and tokens with gift cards from top national brands like Uber, Starbucks, Applebee’s, Xbox, Hulu, HBO along with many retail brands like Amazon, Apple, Walmart and many more. 

The redemption via the TAP network is available to Brave desktop users who have undergone the verification process of their wallet with Uphold. They can link their account to the TAP network by using OAuth, after which they can authorize the TAP network to provide the different redemption options. 

 

Picture Credit – Cryptoline News

Japanese E Commerce Giant Rakuten Ventures Into Cryptocurrency

Posted on by Amrit Mirchandani

Rakuten, the largest e-commerce service in Japan and stands out as one of the largest in its field in the world has entered the Cryptocurrency space. The Japanese Amazon has announced it’s acceptance of applications from users for its very own Cryptocurrency exchange called Rakuten Wallet.

Rakuten Wallet

Rakuten Wallet currently is open to customers who are already Rakuten Bank’s customers. However, the announcement fails to mention if it will be available to people utilizing other bank accounts.

Rakuten received the license for its Cryptocurrency exchange at the end of March 2019 from the Japanese Financial Service Agency. The exchange is registered under the Kanto Local Financial Bureau as a virtual exchange service provider.

While in August 2018, Rakuten acquired the Cryptocurrency exchange called Everybody’s Bitcoin Inc for $2.4 million. Rakuten Wallet is a fresh version of a rebranded Everybody’s Bitcoin Inc. which will have a new database of users.

Rakuten has always been Crypto friendly with its acceptance of Bitcoin way back in 2015 when it utilized Bitnet for Bitcoin payment processing on it’s US website.

The Japanese Crypto Exchange Competition

It’s not going to be an easy road for Rakuten, given that popular names in Japan such as Yahoo! Japan’s Cryptocurrency exchange TaoTao is expected in May, this year.

Existing Japanese Cryptocurrency exchanges are already moving ahead one step at a time. For example, Coincheck has added Ethereum and Ripple in its over-the-counter trading desk.

Japan has come a long way since the devastating Mt. Gox disaster. Mt. Gox originated from Japan, and things took a turn amongst the growing Crypto community in Japan as soon as it occurred.

Japan is seen to be a prime example of how Cryptocurrency was seen to be a disaster and scam but turned out to be the much-needed change into digital payments. Renowned Japanese bank Mitsubishi UFJ has announced the creation of it’s very own Cryptocurrency suggesting that the overall outlook in the Crypto space in Japan looks extremely positive.

CEO of Indian Cryptocurrency exchange WazirX, Nischal Shetty did not miss out on tweeting about Rakuten’s step into the Cryptocurrency space. He even touched on how India has a long way to go in the digital space.

Crypto TV Talk Show To Entertain Indians

Posted on by Amrit Mirchandani

Indians in the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency field are challenging the notions of the Crypto regulations, in many ways such as the Crypto march organised by Blockchained India. With the successful, A recent massive step is the launch of a Cryptocurrency and Blockchain TV talk show series called “Hard Fork”.

Since regulations about Cryptocurrency is the talk of the town in Indian metro cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune, the show will focus mainly on the burning issue.

The host of the show is a well-known Blockchain entrepreneur by the name of Shantanu Sharma. Sharma is a business development specialist who founded InCryptt Labs to help build a Blockchain economy through educational programs to spark interest in the new age technology.

What Hard Fork is Achieving to Do

Hard Fork will be produced by new-age media startup founderINDIA and will be aired on the 22nd of April, 2019. It will be available on Amazon Fire TV, Facebook and Youtube with the first season planned for ten episodes.

In an exclusive chat to Cryptoiscoming, Sharma stated, “Crypto Adoption is slowly but surely occurring in India, and what Hard Fork will be working towards is educating the general public on what Cryptocurrency is and the freedom it expresses.”

Cryptocurrency Spells Freedom

With Cryptocurrency, the unbankable, people of any origin, race or gender holds the key to their financial future. It is not decided upon by banks or the government.

Even Cryptocurrency advocate Anthony Pompliano popularly stated, ‘Long Bitcoin, Short the Bankers’

Alex Gladstein, a chief strategy officer of the Human Rights Foundation in an article by SingularityHub last year, stressed on about how humans for the first time have the ability to send money globally without anyone being able to stop it.

Like John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States said, “ “The great revolution in the history of man, past, present and future, is the revolution of those determined to be free.”

The Blockchain and Crypto revolution is definitely sparking in the land of colours – India!