EBay CEO revealed possibility of adding Crypto Payments


In a recent
interview published on February 27th president and chief executive officer of
eBay, Jamie Iannone discussed the possibility of adding digital
currency as possible means of payment on the online auction website and
non-fungible token (NFT) sales.
After being
questioned regarding crypto acceptance Iannone highlighted that currently, eBay
is not accepting cryptocurrencies. Although the firm is planning to focus and
evaluate other forms of payments that can be taken on the platform including advertising. On March 10 the firm could make an announcement
to its investors regarding this.
Iannone also
said the firm has opened Google Pay and Apple Pay. eBay has also partnered
with Afterpay which is based in Australia. Afterpay is a platform that appeals
to Gen Z, and that is a buy now pay later platform on the marketplace. Iannone
highlighted that Gen-Z is a priority target for his platform.
Iannone revealed
that even before the platform had made any particular announcement, people
began trading non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on eBay. The online exchange of items
by individuals will remain a major business on eBay, according to Iannone. As Iannone
further revealed, the company focuses and places a premium on transactions
related to the youth and trends like the collectible sneakers industry. Through this, the company is appealing to the younger generation who are selling their
sneakers on the platform, becoming a collectible collector and building new
marketing capabilities.
He further
added eBay will remain one of the most prominent businesses where people can
exchange goods online. It will be the place where people trade goods are it physical
or digital. Iannone said, “So over time, you know, we want this to be the
marketplace for sustainability.”
Iannone told, "We're
just completing our transition to manage payments where we're now managing $85
billion of volume on our platform directly," "This gives us the
ability to open up new forms of payment."
In 2020 eBay
showed a record of generating $10.27 billion in revenue which revealed that in
the world of internet commerce, eBay has retained a huge position. As
compared to Amazon the revenue was significant which generated $386.1 billion
in the same year.
As per a report on May 11, 2021, eBay had allowed NFT sales on the auction site. eBay CEO Jamie Iannone explained that the NFT sales simply materialized without much thought.

Indrani Bose
CBW - External Analyst
INDIA